Some education pundits use “worksheet” as a derogatory term. I assume their complaint is the equivalent of labelling an activity as busy work. I saw this article attacked on Twitte in this way. Some of these complaints seem to originate from a pure discovery perspective which has long been debunked by educational researchers.
My interpretation of the strategy that was attacked was that the strategy was being offered as a type of scaffolding. The concept of scaffolding proposes the use of supports that allow learners to take on tasks they could not attack on their own. These added supports can improve learner motivation and encourage the application of cognitive skills learners might not apply unless prompted. Rather than expect learners to stumble around the idea is to increases the rate of success and the practice of important skills.
Some of my own work focuses on the use of a category of technology services that allow educators to scaffold online content to make the study of this content more successful for learners.
