Dr. Jim Heal: When you are first establishing a concept, it’s not enough just to tell learners to discover their way to understanding.

Susan Hamilton: Today, we’re going to be dividing two-digit dividends by one-digit divisors.

Dr. Jim Heal: A worked example eradicates all ambiguity by naming explicitly what the steps are and how the teacher who is an expert would go about moving through those steps.

Susan Hamilton: And we’re going to start off with some worked examples that you guys can do.

For years it was like, “Well, you need to let your students do more exploratory learning and just let them discover it for their own.” And that didn’t really work well, at least not for me. They just didn’t know what to do. They didn’t have enough information and they were overwhelmed.

So remember, when we’re doing worked examples, your eyes are on the screen and you are watching what I’m doing. And then when it’s your turn, I’ll let you know.

A worked example is when you explicitly teach students, starting with an example that you just model to them.

Eyes on screen.

You model the steps and you’re showing them very clearly, very explicitly what you are looking for, what you’re expecting, and making sure that it’s tied to the understanding.

I see my divisor. I know I need four groups. One, two, three, four. OK, now I’m going to…

So the first example was just wanting the students to look at the screen to be watching what I was doing.

So now I want you to work this problem with me. Don’t do a step until I do a step.

Then they need to do it with me.

52 divided by 4. Class, go ahead and write that in your book.

I did a step, then they did it. Then I did a step, then they did it.

What’s the answer to a division equation called class?

Students: Quotients.

Susan Hamilton: And then the next example I left out just telling what the quotient was.

I can see the quotient. I can see my answer.

Dr. Jim Heal: A faded worked example fades away the level of structured support that that initial example provides. What does this do? It means that the student incrementally takes greater control, ownership, and understanding of those processes.

Susan Hamilton: Brittyn, what is our quotient?

Brittyn: 13.

Susan Hamilton: Right. Yeah. You have the right model.

Then I released them to just go ahead, and they showed the regrouping and then the equation.

Hey, I’m going to give you about one more minute because I see a lot of people are stuck on the regrouping part.

It was very obvious right away who was getting it, who wasn’t getting it, and what they weren’t getting. They were struggling with the concept of regrouping.

Dr. Jim Heal: So when you provide a worked example to a group of students and then invite them to start to make their own sense of the steps, it can quickly identify where student misconceptions might lie. In this case, the teacher was able to identify that a majority of students were falling down on one of those steps. That enabled her to return to that piece, to use, once again, the logic of a worked example to be able to reinforce that part of the process.

Susan Hamilton: It makes the steps really clear to them, and they don’t feel overwhelmed by too much going on. They’re only having to work with this small amount, and hopefully it’s going to keep their brain from being overloaded with too much information.

A lot of you did get done.

Dr. Jim Heal: And eventually, the student will be able to do it in much the same way that the teacher did.

Susan Hamilton: Erase your boards. Nice job, ladies and gentlemen.

Lincoln Elementary School

.css-1sk4066:hover{background:#d1ecfa;}Making Use of a Worked Example to Improve Learning

Making Use of a Worked Example to Improve Learning