So how does one discourage students from approaching theorems in this manner? I think part of the answer is maybe that students need to have some type of experience with trying to show how something works and then on their own finding the need to prove some rule or pattern or something. But I don't know what the best situation for this would be, especially since in Calculus most students will have already been told and "believe" things like the power rule without understanding (or caring) about its proof...