Worked Examples

Worked examples, or worked problems, are sometimes provided to support participants who have little or no experience and must learn how to complete a multi-step task or problem. A worked example presents the thought process or interim calculation for each step of the task or problem, as well as the final result. As the instructor explains each step of the required sequence, participants can focus on mastering the individual steps. Instructors can check participant understanding at each step and answer any questions. If you introduce a worked example with an error, you can ask participants to find flaws in the logic or calculations. Participants can also refer to worked examples when doing independent practice. The downside to worked examples is, if participants are provided with only one example, they may not be able to solve a related problem that varies in any way from the example. This challenge can be overcome by creating a series of worked examples with minor variations in the different steps so that participants can experience thinking through small changes to the task or problem.

Instructions

To effectively use worked examples:

  1. Show the problem with the solution steps obscured.
  2. Ask participants to think about how they would approach the problem.
  3. Reveal the entire worked solution and give participants time to read through each step.
  4. Ask participants to discuss the steps to solve the example worked problem with a partner.
  5. Call on participants to have them discuss how to solve the problem.
  6. Provide a worked example with a common flaw in the calculation or routine.
  7. Ask participants to discuss the flawed example with a partner.
  8. Call on one or more participants to explain the error and how to correct it.
  9. Provide related practice problems with small changes for participants to try to solve on their own.
  10. To check participants’ conceptual understanding, call on participants to explain how they solved the practice problem. If errors are discovered, ask for help from other participants to reinforce correct thinking.