Students DO NOT learn in the same manner as did students just five years ago. This should not be surprising. Grade schools are different. High schools are different. Only universities continue to deliver material the way it was delivered 10 or 50 years ago.
Students expect professors who understand what they require.
For them a preferred learning sequence starts with a presentation of an example or a demonstration of what is coming. Next, they would like to learn how it works. Any theory that explains why it works should come last. Today's juniors are some of the first students who have been exposed to computers since early grade school. Error messages can be seen as learning standards after the fact.