Practice problems and worked examples are both well-established teaching techniques. Research in math and physics suggests that having students study worked examples during their first contact with new material, instead of solving practice problems, can be beneficial to their subsequent performance, possibly due to the reduced cognitive load…

A large body of research has shown that for novice learners, instruction that relies more heavily on worked examples than on problem solving, is more effective for learning as shown by higher test performance. Moreover, this beneficial effect is often obtained with less acquisition time and lower cognitive load during acquisition and test phase.…

This monograph provides teachers with a wide range of articles on the teaching of problem solving in the mathematics classroom. The first section, on Understanding the Problem, includes articles which provide a sense of the "problem" of teaching problem solving. The second section, on Devising a Plan, provides suggested plans for…