Non-Examples

Element · All elements
Evidence · no claims cited

Description

Non-examples are intentionally chosen instances that do not meet the target concept, criterion, or quality standard. They are useful when learners need to sharpen category boundaries, detect common errors, or distinguish a strong model from a flawed one.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• A clear target concept or quality criterion
• Contrast with examples or correct models
• Prompts that ask learners what makes the item a non-example

Constraints

• Absolute novices may encode the wrong feature if contrast is unclear
• Trivial non-examples do little instructional work

Target Learning Goals

• Improve discrimination, concept clarity, and error detection.

Affordances

• Pairing Non-Examples with Examples
• Error Analysis
• Worked Examples

Claims

Related Elements

• Erroneous Examples
• Demonstration
• Conceptual Questioning

Patterns That Use This Element

• Guided Discovery Learning
• Mastery Learning

Examples

• Showing a correct thesis statement beside a weak one and asking learners to identify the difference.
• Contrasting valid and invalid examples of a mathematical concept.

Key Sources

• Durkin, K., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2012). The effectiveness of using incorrect examples to support learning about decimal magnitude. Learning and Instruction, 22(3), 206-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2011.11.001

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	element
id	non-examples
title	Non-Examples
description	Non-examples are intentionally chosen instances that do not meet the target concept, criterion, or quality standard.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by codex/unspecified on 2026-04-08
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — durkin-2012

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