e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning

10.2. How Worked Examples Work

In Chapter 2, we summarized the central role of working memory in learning processes that build new knowledge in long-term memory. We've all heard the expression, "Practice makes perfect." It's a common assumption that the best way to learn is to work lots of practice problems. However, solving problems demands a great deal of working memory resource. During the early stages of learning, limited worked memory capacity is most productively allocated to building new knowledge. When working practice problems, so much working memory capacity is used up that there is little available resource remaining for knowledge construction.

Instead of following the traditional practice of showing a single example followed by a ...