Structuring Effective Worked Examples
Abstract
Under some conditions, substituting worked examples for problems or exercises enhances learning and subsequent problem solving. Under other conditions, worked examples are no more effective, and possibly less effective, than solving problems. Using cognitive load theory, we hypothesize that the critical factors for enhanced learning are whether the worked examples can direct attention appropriately and reduce cognitive load. It is suggested that worked examples requiring students to mentally integrate multiple sources of information are not effective because they fail with respect to both of these factors. The results of five experiments using geometric optics and kinematics under classroom conditions provided evidence for these hypotheses. Worked examples, formatted to reduce the need for students to mentally integrate multiple sources of information, resulted in test performance superior to either conventional problems or to worked examples requiring students to split their attention between, for example, text and equations or text and diagrams. We conclude that because traditional worked example formats frequently are random with respect to cognitive factors, they may be ineffective in some areas and require restructuring.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Design of high-quality worked examples is challenging, particularly if they require integration of multiple information sources, which could lead to higher extraneous cognitive load.
“Second, the design of high-quality worked examples is challenging, particularly if these require integration of multiple information sources, which could lead to a higher extraneous cognitive load (Sweller et al., 1990, 1998; Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988; Ward & Sweller, 1990).”
From Does difficulty moderate learning? A comparative analysis of the desirable difficulties framework and cognitive load theory (2025) · cites this paper as Ward & Sweller, 1990
The worked-example effect is not obtainable when the worked examples are themselves structured in a manner that imposes a heavy cognitive load.
“First, it is not obtainable when the worked examples are themselves structured in a manner that imposes a heavy cognitive load.”
From Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching (2006) · cites this paper as Ward & Sweller, 1990
Cites
Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning
Sweller, J. (1988) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1016/0364-0213(88)90023-7 · Cited by 11,048 · see citing works
Self-citationSelf-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems
Chi, M. (1989) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1016/0364-0213(89)90002-5 · Cited by 2,287 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1 · Cited by 6,887 · see citing works
Self-citationCognitive Architecture and Instructional Design
Sweller, J., van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. G. W. C. (1998) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1023/a:1022193728205 · Cited by 6,023 · see citing works
Self-citationCognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design
Sweller, J. (1994) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/0959-4752(94)90003-5 · Cited by 3,801 · see citing works
Self-citationCognitive Load Theory and the Format of Instruction
Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1991) · Cognition and Instruction · doi:10.1207/s1532690xci0804_2 · Cited by 2,894 · see citing works
Self-citationKalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2003) · Educational Psychologist · doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3801_4 · Cited by 1,927 · see citing works
Self-citationWhy Some Material Is Difficult to Learn
Sweller, J., & Chandler, P. (1994) · Cognition and Instruction · doi:10.1207/s1532690xci1203_1 · Cited by 1,455 · see citing works
Self-citationDoes discovery-based instruction enhance learning?
Alfieri, L., Brooks, P. J., Aldrich, N. J., & Tenenbaum, H. R. (2011) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021017 · Cited by 1,338 · see citing works
Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (1998) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.90.2.312 · Cited by 1,315 · see citing works
Paas, F. G. W. C., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1994) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.86.1.122 · Cited by 1,198 · see citing works
Reducing cognitive load by mixing auditory and visual presentation modes.
Mousavi, S. Y., Low, R., & Sweller, J. (1995) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.87.2.319 · Cited by 995 · see citing works
Self-citationInstructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks
Paas, F. G. W. C., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1994) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/bf02213420 · Cited by 968 · see citing works
Koedinger, K. R., Corbett, A. T., & Perfetti, C. (2012) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01245.x · Cited by 772 · see citing works
Cognitive load as a factor in the structuring of technical material.
Sweller, J., Chandler, P., Tierney, P., & Cooper, M. (1990) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.119.2.176 · Cited by 629 · see citing works
Self-citationEvidence for Cognitive Load Theory
Sweller, J., & Chandler, P. (1991) · Cognition and Instruction · doi:10.1207/s1532690xci0804_5 · Cited by 543 · see citing works
Self-citationWhen problem solving is superior to studying worked examples.
Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., Tuovinen, J., & Sweller, J. (2001) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.579 · Cited by 548 · see citing works
Self-citationEvolution of human cognitive architecture
Sweller, J. (2003) · Psychology of Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/s0079-7421(03)01015-6 · Cited by 511 · see citing works
Self-citationSweller, J. (2004) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1023/b:truc.0000021808.72598.4d · Cited by 470 · see citing works
Self-citationGuidance during mathematical problem solving.
Tarmizi, R. A., & Sweller, J. (1988) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.80.4.424 · Cited by 464 · see citing works
Self-citationCierniak, G., Scheiter, K., & Gerjets, P. (2009) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.020 · Cited by 412 · see citing works
Integrating information: A meta-analysis of the spatial contiguity and temporal contiguity effects
Ginns, P. (2006) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2006.10.001 · Cited by 403 · see citing works
Learning from Worked-Out Examples: The Effects of Example Variability and Elicited Self-Explanations
Renkl, A., Stark, R., Gruber, H., & Mandl, H. (1998) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1006/ceps.1997.0959 · Cited by 374 · see citing works
A model of the self-explanation effect.
VanLehn, K., Jones, R. M., & Chi, M. T. H. (1992) · Journal of the Learning Sciences · doi:10.1207/s15327809jls0201_1 · Cited by 305 · see citing works
The Role of Visual Indicators in Dual Sensory Mode Instruction
Jeung, H., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1997) · Educational Psychology · doi:10.1080/0144341970170307 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
Self-citationMarcus, N., Cooper, M., & Sweller, J. (1996) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.88.1.49 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Self-citationSweller, J. (2023) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-023-09817-2 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Self-citationCognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency
Van Gerven, P. W. M., Paas, F. G. W. C., Van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Schmidt, H. G. (2002) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/s0959-4752(01)00017-2 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
The worked example effect, the generation effect, and element interactivity.
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2015) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/edu0000018 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Self-citationContemporary cognitive load theory research: The good, the bad and the ugly
Kirschner, P. A., Ayres, P., & Chandler, P. (2011) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.06.025 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
“One of the major strengths of cognitive load research over the years is that it has increasingly focused on complex learning environments and real life school and industry settings (Chandler & Sweller, 1991, 1992, 1996; Ward & Sweller, 1990).”
BackgroundSolving parsons problems versus fixing and writing code
Ericson, B. J., Margulieux, L. E., & Rick, J. (2017) · Proceedings of the 17th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research · doi:10.1145/3141880.3141895 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Relations between the worked example and generation effects on immediate and delayed tests
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2016) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.06.007 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Self-citationW. M. Van Gerven, F. G. W. C. P. (2000) · Educational Gerontology · doi:10.1080/03601270050133874 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Managing One's Own Cognitive Load when Evidence of Split Attention is Present
Roodenrys, K., Agostinho, S., Roodenrys, S., & Chandler, P. (2012) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.2889 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Pillay, H. K. (1994) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1007/bf00892159 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Kablan, Z., & Erden, M. (2008) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2007.07.002 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
The Split-Attention Principle in Multimedia Learning
Ayres, P., & Sweller, J. (2021) · The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning · doi:10.1017/9781108894333.020 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationPyke, W., Lunau, J., & Javadi, A.-H. (2025) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218241308143 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
“Second, the design of high-quality worked examples is challenging, particularly if these require integration of multiple information sources, which could lead to a higher extraneous cognitive load (Sweller et al., 1990, 1998; Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988; Ward & Sweller, 1990).”
Worked Example Mid-Semester Intervention in College Algebra
Miller, D., & Schraeder, M. (2022) · Journal of Research in Mathematics Education · doi:10.17583/redimat.9645
- Authors
- Ward, M., & Sweller, J.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- ORCID
- Sweller, John
- Venue
- Cognition and Instruction
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1990-03
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-39
- ISSN
- 0737-0008 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-690X
- OpenAlex
- W2147435888
- Cited by
- 396
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 24
- FWCI
- 10.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cognition and Instruction (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- worked examples, cognitive load theory, problem solving, attentional demands, information integration, physics learning, kinematics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
