I am a high school teacher, and I teach a bit of programming. When students reach a point where they should start researching their own questions, rather than asking me for help, I introduce them to StackOverflow. It is really interesting to watch how students react to the SO community.

To participate effectively in the SO community, there are pretty clear guidelines. Do some initial research, state exactly what you are trying to do, state what you have already tried, and state a specific question. After that, there are clear guidelines for how to interact with the people who try to help you. These guidelines are much more real than a lot of the artificial rules I see students subjected to in schools.

A student who understands the SO community is a student who will likely be able to get their own questions answered throughout their lives, in any field they are interested in. Meaningful participation in SO is one of the clearest signs I've ever seen that a student has let go of their need to have a teacher standing in front of them in a classroom in order to learn something.