There are many things we know about paving the journey from novice to expert, but perhaps the most robust and general finding that we have is as follows:

Novices benefit from more structure and scaffolding, experts from less

In Cognitive Load Theory, this principle reveals itself in two ways, the worked example effect, and the expertise-reversal effect.

The worked example effect tells us that for novices, the most effective way to scaffold their learning is to provide them with high quality models, worked examples of the product which they are learning to produce.

The expertise-reversal effect tells us the opposite. Worked examples can be redundant as someone approaches expertise in that particular problem’s domain, as this person already understand how the problem should be solved. The expert therefore benefits more from practice rather than examples.

The Ideal Worked Example for a Novice Teacher

Imagine a novice teacher on a Sunday night. On Monday morning they need to deliver a lesson on fractions. They know that they need to introduce students to mixed numbers for the first time (e.g., 2 and 1/3 is the mixed number version of the improper fraction 7/3), but they really don’t know how to do this.

From Cognitive Load Theory, we know that the most useful scaffold for them at this point would be a worked example, but how ‘worked’ should that worked example be?

To understand the ideal worked example, we first need to understand the product that this novice teacher will be trying to produce.

At the most essential level, what this teacher will need to do to support their students’ learning of this (or any) concept is to present them with a sequence of instructions (words the teacher will say) and representations (concrete, pictorial, and/or abstract) representations that they’ll show students. These instructions and representations will combine to ideally move students from their current level of knowledge to the new, targeted understanding.

So, what does this mean for the ideal worked example?

The ideal worked example will provide the teacher with the exact instructions, and the exact representations, that they can use to move students forwards. In its most direct form, this will be a script of what the teacher should say (instruction), inclusive of exactly what they should show students (representations) and when and how to show them.

For time poor teachers developing their understanding, anything short of this leaves more to chance than is either necessary, or ideal.

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This is why scripts are beneficial for novice teachers, they provide the ideal worked example to both move their students’ learning forward from the get-go, and to provide them with the instructional language and representations needed to attain greater expertise.

In the next post I’ll unpack the idea of ‘novice’ and ‘expert’ to put the implications of today’s post into greater context.

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This post is part of a series on the role of scripts in high quality teaching. The full series covers will be released in coming weeks.

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