Examplefocused

Examplefocused is a term used in instructional design and software development to describe an approach that centers on concrete, worked examples to guide understanding and decision making. In this approach, learners or practitioners begin with explicit demonstrations of how a task is performed, followed by variations that gradually increase complexity. The goal is to improve transfer of learning to new tasks by anchoring reasoning in observable patterns rather than abstract principles alone.

The term is not tied to a single standard framework but appears in discussions of teaching and coding practices as a pragmatic contrast to theory-first or principle-first methods. Its emphasis on exemplars aligns with cognitive load theory and the worked example effect, which show that learners perform better when first exposed to complete, understandable examples before solving problems.

Core principles include presenting representative examples, progressively reducing support, and prompting reflection on what distinguishes correct from incorrect solutions. It also encourages explicit labeling of decisions shown in the example to help users recognize transferable strategies.

Applications span education, technical documentation, onboarding, and product design. In software, examplefocused work can take the form of guided tutorials, scenario-based prompts, and template-driven patterns that illustrate how to implement features.

Limitations include the risk of overfitting to specific cases and the need for careful selection of exemplars to cover diverse scenarios. See also: worked examples, example-based learning, scenario-based learning, cognitive load theory.