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

10.11. What We Don't Know About Worked Examples

We have learned a great deal in the past few years about the most effective way to design worked examples to maximize learning. Still, a number of issues remain to be resolved.

1. How to best fade multi-step worked examples. In worked examples with a few steps, such as the probability problems in Figures 10.1 and 10.4, it is easy to create a sequence of a few examples that start with a full worked example and end with a complete problem with two or three intervening faded examples. However, many tasks require multiple steps. If such examples are faded one step at a time, many worked examples would be needed. We need more data on how best to apply fading techniques to multi-step examples.

2. When to drop ...