MENTAL MODEL · M11813

Exemplary Teaching

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Updated 2026-09-10

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

The exemplary teaching method of Martin Wagenschein, which selects a small number of carefully chosen typical examples and analyses them in depth, so that students grasp the general through the particular rather than surveying many cases superficially. Its claim is that understanding one essential example thoroughly transfers more readily than skimming ten, because depth exposes the transferable structure that a surface survey conceals.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Depth over breadth: teach one example thoroughly rather than ten shallowly. - Structure exposure: choose an example that reveals the core structure of the whole. - Transfer test: check whether students can abstract the general principle from the single case.

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A single representative example, examined deeply, exposes the underlying structure shared with other cases. Because students learn the structure rather than the surface, they transfer it to new situations, whereas broad shallow coverage leaves only disconnected facts.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

Choose a representative example that reveals the core structure. 2. Teach it fully: why it works, where it comes from, where its limits lie. 3. Guide students to abstract the general principle from the example. 4. Test transfer with varied problems. 5. Keep example count low and depth high.

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Source support: Explicit

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wiki.mbalib.comhttps://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E8%8C%83%E4%BE%8B%E6%95%99%E5%AD%A6ZH · Explicit
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