Worked Example
Model a complete performance while exposing the decisions, checks, and disciplinary reasoning inside it.
- Knowledge
- Procedural · Argumentative · Evidential · Metacognitive
- Sequence
- Modelling · Deliberate Practice
- Interaction
- Medium
A worked example reduces unproductive search by showing what expert performance looks like and why each move is made. It is most powerful when the invisible reasoning is annotated, then support is deliberately withdrawn.
01How the architecture unfolds
- State the problem and success criteria.
- Model one move at a time.
- Annotate the purpose of each move.
- Pause for prediction before the next move.
- Compare with a near-miss and begin fading support.
02The work on each side
Teacher moves
- Verbalise selection decisions
- Connect each move to a criterion
- Avoid narrating obvious surface actions
Student moves
- Attend
- Predict
- Explain
- Compare
- Complete
03What would count as learning?
- Students can explain why a move was made
- Students complete a structurally similar problem with reduced prompts
04Across the curriculum
Evidence-based judgment
Annotate how a paragraph selects evidence, explains its significance, and qualifies the claim.
Quadratic equations
Model method choice as well as the algebraic steps and checking routine.