Worked Example Effect

The worked example effect is the finding, developed within cognitive load theory by psychologists John Sweller and Graham Cooper in a 1985 study of algebra instruction, that novice learners acquire a new problem-solving procedure more effectively by studying fully worked examples that show each solution step than by solving the equivalent problems themselves from the start. Sweller and Cooper's studies found that students who alternated between studying a worked example and solving a similar practice problem outperformed and worked faster than students who solved the same number of problems unaided, because unguided problem solving imposes a heavy load on a novice's limited working memory as they search for a solution method, leaving fewer resources available for building durable knowledge structures known as schemas. The effect is strongest for true novices and diminishes or reverses as a learner gains expertise, a pattern later formalized as the expertise reversal effect, and it has become a standard justification in instructional design for presenting worked examples before independent practice.