- Title: Cognitive Load Theory: The story of a research programme
- Authors: John Sweller
- Access the original paper here
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Paper summary
This excerpt details John Sweller’s career and research program focusing on Cognitive Load Theory. Sweller recounts his personal journey, from his post-Holocaust upbringing to his academic career, highlighting the development of his theory through various experiments and effects. He explains key concepts within Cognitive Load Theory, such as the worked example effect, split-attention effect, and redundancy effect, emphasizing their implications for instructional design. The text also explores the interactions between different cognitive load effects and discusses the influence of evolutionary educational psychology on his work. Finally, Sweller reflects on lessons learned throughout his research career, advocating for persistence and the importance of systematic research.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
Based on the sources, here are some key implications for teachers in the classroom that arise from cognitive load theory:
- Use worked examples: Instead of having students solve problems immediately, teachers should show students how to solve problems by using worked examples. This approach is more effective for novices because it reduces cognitive load and allows students to focus on learning the problem-solving process.
- Minimize split-attention: Teachers should present instructional materials in a way that reduces split-attention, where learners must divide their focus between multiple sources of information and mentally integrate them. For example, in geometry, statements should be placed directly on the diagram or use arrows to show the connections. By physically integrating information, teachers can reduce extraneous cognitive load and improve learning.
- Use the modality effect: When presenting information that involves both text and visuals, consider presenting the text as spoken words rather than written text. Using both auditory and visual channels can increase working memory capacity. When using spoken text, the material should be kept short and simple because auditory material is transient.
- Avoid redundancy: Teachers should avoid providing unnecessary information, as this can increase cognitive load and hinder learning. For example, if a diagram clearly shows blood flowing from the left ventricle to the aorta, a written statement saying “Blood flows from the left ventricle to the aorta” is redundant.
- Consider element interactivity: Cognitive load effects are more likely to occur when the material being learned is complex with high element interactivity. If elements of information interact, they must be processed simultaneously in working memory. Cognitive load theory is most relevant to complex material that is difficult to understand.
- Recognize the expertise reversal effect: As students gain expertise, the effectiveness of certain instructional methods may change. For example, while worked examples are beneficial for novices, more advanced learners may benefit more from solving problems themselves. Therefore, teachers should adjust instructional strategies to match students’ expertise levels.
- Provide explicit instruction: Rather than relying on minimal guidance or discovery learning, teachers should explicitly show students how to perform tasks and solve problems. This explicit instruction is more effective because it acknowledges the difference between biologically primary and secondary knowledge.
- Emphasize domain-specific knowledge: Instead of focusing on generic skills, teachers should emphasize teaching domain-specific knowledge. While generic cognitive skills are important, they are likely to be biologically primary and do not need to be taught. Teachers can help students apply their existing generic cognitive skills to learn domain-specific content.
- Consider the transient nature of some information: Be aware that spoken information and animations are transient, with new information replacing old. Therefore, lengthy or complex information should be presented in written form, allowing learners to return to given segments.
By implementing these principles, teachers can design instruction that is more effective by minimizing extraneous cognitive load and focusing students’ cognitive resources on learning.
Quote
The issue could never be whether the use of worked examples was better than solving problems but rather, whether the particular worked examples used reduced unnecessary working memory load compared to solving problems
