Worked example effect

Carefully studying worked examples may produce more learning than solving problems.

• Foundations
  • Sweller, J., & Cooper, G. A. (1985). The Use of Worked Examples as a Substitute for Problem Solving in Learning Algebra. Cognition and Instruction, 2(1), 59–89
  • Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285
• Related studies
  • Paas, F. G., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. (1994). Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(1), 122
  • Yeo, D. J., & Fazio, L. K. (2019). The optimal learning strategy depends on learning goals and processes: Retrieval practice versus worked examples. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(1), 73–90
  • Chen, O., Castro-Alonso, J. C., Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2018). Undesirable difficulty effects in the learning of high-element interactivity materials. Frontiers in Psychology, 9
• Related but not identical:
  • van Gog, T., Kester, L., Dirkx, K., Hoogerheide, V., Boerboom, J., & Verkoeijen, P. P. J. L. (2015). Testing After Worked Example Study Does Not Enhance Delayed Problem-Solving Performance Compared to Restudy. Educational Psychology Review, 27(2), 265–289
  • Leahy, W., Hanham, J., & Sweller, J. (2015). High Element Interactivity Information During Problem Solving may Lead to Failure to Obtain the Testing Effect. Educational Psychology Review, 27(2), 291–304
• More distantly related theoretical work:
  • Paas, F. G. W. C., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1994). Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks. Educational Psychology Review, 6(4), 351–371
  • Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design. Learning and Instruction, 4(4), 295–312

While the term “worked example effect” usually refers to comparisons of studying related worked examples to solving related problems, it’s sometimes discussed in comparison to the Testing effect—i.e. is it better to study related worked examples, or to engage in Retrieval practice by re-solving related problems? See e.g. Yeo and Fazio, 2019. Jeffrey Karpicke argues (see commentary on van Gog, T., & Sweller, J. (2015). Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: The Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases. Educational Psychology Review, 27(2), 247–264) that “the worked-example experiments all failed to show retrieval practice effects because of the way retrieval practice was implemented” (i.e. immediate, massed, “requiring no episodic context reinstatement”).

Q. Relate the Worked example effect to intrinsic, extrinsic, and germane Cognitive load theory.
A. If you try to learn through problem solving, intrinsic load (e.g. via high Element interactivity) and extrinsic load (e.g. rehearsing procedural strategies) leave no room for the germane load necessary to construct schemas.

Questions

• Can schema acquisition be directly induced through e.g. a Spaced repetition memory system?
  • Yeo, D. J., & Fazio, L. K. (2019). The optimal learning strategy depends on learning goals and processes: Retrieval practice versus worked examples. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(1), 73–90 suggests not, at least not just by repeated problem solving.
  • *
• How important is memory consolidation to schema acquisition? To put that another way, if you observe a schema pattern once, is it likely to be forgotten as quickly as, say, a simple fact? Is the challenge in schema acquisition mostly in initially noticing the patterns, or is an important part in reinforcing those insights once identified?
• What exactly is the daylight between the concept of a “schema” and the concept of a “chunk” (“Chunks” in human cognition)?
  • Tentatively: schemas evolve over time while chunks do not; schemas involve not only the grouping of information but also the organization of that information into a larger structure or framework. Chunks are a somewhat narrower concept: they’re usually considered in the context of memory; while schemas are usually discussed in the broader contexts of information processing and problem solving.