Current understanding serving as example (5)
I believe the answer is:
ideal
'serving as example' is the definition.
(an ideal or model version of something)
'current understanding' is the wordplay.
'current' becomes 'I' (symbol for electric current).
'understanding' becomes 'deal' (deal is a kind of understanding).
'i'+'deal'='IDEAL'
(Other definitions for ideal that I've seen before include "Just right" , "Exemplary" , "Perfect but not likely to become a reality" , "Paradigm" , "supreme" .)