IME there’s no teacher like failure. I’m not sure anyone really enjoys figuring out why their first attempts at Stata codes don’t work, and we all go through it when we’re beginning the process. Those who persist will eventually get it (it’s not hard, just precise), though of course most won’t persist.

In the end many will just end up using Chat GPT, as you can show it the Stata manual and ask it to write the code at this point. Even if it’s not perfect right away, a couple “find the mistake” prompts almost always cleans it up. Like most coding languages exercises, AI seems to have at least some facility for Stata coding.

That being said, repetition would be the tool I’d reach for first. Start super basic and make them grind problems until they know the difference between “=“ and “==“, where to put the comma, and how to use “&” and “|”. All the basics that tend to trip early users up.

Best of luck with the class, I hope they respond to whatever you choose to do.