ABSTRACT
The use of examples to help students learn is common to virtually all teaching methods in all disciplines, but the importance of examples is especially clear in teaching statistics. In this chapter, the author reviews the research literature on creating and using examples effectively, with particular reference to their use for teaching statistics. Finally, the author propose a tentative model of how to design and use examples effectively that should help statistics teachers create good examples more systematically. Catrambone demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing worked examples with solutions that are organized around conceptual modules or subgoals. The research reviewed in the chapter shows that teachers cannot create examples haphazardly and assume that one example is as good as another or assume that the way the example is presented to or processed by the student does not matter. Teachers must design and implement examples to achieve a particular kind of learning on the part of the student.
