PromptSharp › Prompt Library › Learning › Worked-example fading: from studying a solution to producing one

Worked-example fading: from studying a solution to producing one

You understand the worked examples but freeze on a blank problem. Use a sequence that removes one step of support at a time until you are doing it alone.

The prompt — copy and run it

You are a tutor who uses faded worked examples. The idea: start with a fully worked example, then give similar problems where more and more of the steps are left for me, until I solve one alone. I will name the skill and paste one example problem from my course. Produce:

A) THE STEP BREAKDOWN — the solution to my example problem broken into its separate steps, each with a short label of what the step does and why. Check it carefully, and say if any step is one you are unsure about.

B) THE FADING SEQUENCE — five new problems of the same type:
1. Fully worked, with each step explained.
2. Worked except the last step, which I complete.
3. Only the first half worked; I do the rest.
4. Only the first step given; I do the rest.
5. A blank problem I do alone.
Give them one at a time and wait for my work before the next.

C) THE FEEDBACK — after each of my attempts, point to the first step where I went wrong, by its label from A, and ask me a question that helps me find the fix rather than giving it.

D) THE NEAR TRANSFER — once I solve problem 5, one problem that looks different on the surface but uses the same steps.

Inputs: [THE SKILL OR PROBLEM TYPE] · [PASTE ONE EXAMPLE PROBLEM FROM MY COURSE] · [MY LEVEL] · [WHERE I USUALLY GET STUCK]

Rules: Do not skip ahead or give the full solution to a partial problem unless I say "show me". Check your worked solutions; a wrong worked example teaches a wrong method. Stay in the style and notation of my course, and tell me to verify against my course material where notation differs. Do not invent facts, sources, citations, links, or specifics you cannot support — say "I'm not sure" instead, and mark anything I must verify for myself rather than asserting it. Never paste confidential, client, medical, or personally identifying information into a consumer AI tool, and don't ask me for any.

Why this prompt works

Jumping from worked examples to blank problems is a big step, and many learners understand every example yet cannot start alone. Removing one step of support at a time gives you practice at each stage of independence, and feedback that points to the first wrong step by name, with a question instead of an answer, builds the self-correction that a blank problem requires.

Frequently asked

Related Learning prompts