Worked example principle
Contents
Brief statement of principle
Description of principle
"In courses that are teaching new tasks, learning time can be saved by replacing some practice problems with worked examples" (Clark & Mayer, 2004, p. 177). In addition, most studies comparing interleaved worked examples and problems with all problmes have also shown improved learning outcomes, including robust learning outcomes.
Operational definition
Examples
Experimental support
Laboratory experiment support
In vivo experiment support
Theoretical rationale
(These entries should link to one or more learning processes.)
"Working memory has a limited capacity that becomes inefficient when having to retain even a few items. If the only way to build job-relevant skills is to perform many practice exercises, working memory can become overloaded by the mental work required to complete these exercises. However, iflimited working memory resources could be used to study worked examples and build new knowledge from them, some of this labor- intensive effort could be bypassed. Worked examples are more efficient for learning new tasks because they reduce the load in working memory, thereby allowing the learner to learn the steps in problem solving."
Clark, Mayer, 2004 (pp178-179)
