NSTD.8:2 - Problem

A learning narrative uses sequence, examples, repetition, analogy and motivation to help the learner reconstruct and use source ideas. Those choices can also conceal a prerequisite or make an illustrative route appear to be the only way to perform a method. This pattern describes how to design and repair the route. Worked examples belong in a pattern when they explain its method; a complete course script is a separate teaching product.

A common engineering failure is the reference-manual course. The course follows the module architecture of the source: first all of topic A, then all of topic B, then all of topic C, each with concentrated examples. Learners can follow each block locally, but later fail to choose the right pattern, distinguish nearby structures, remember earlier conditions, or transfer across domains. The repair is not to destroy the source architecture. Keep the source architecture as source return, then design a different learning-route architecture with deliberate interleaving, spaced retrieval, recurring anchors, and transfer tasks.