Cognitive Load Theory - 5 Min CPD PDF

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY What do we know? Thinking takes place in working memory. However, our working memory is limited both in terms of the space it has and how long it can hold information. These limits are the bottleneck of learning  Anything that takes up space in our workin...

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY What do we know? Thinking takes place in working memory. However, our working memory is limited both in terms of the space it has and how long it can hold information. These limits are the bottleneck of learning  Anything that takes up space in our working memory can be thought of as causing cognitive load. The right amount of the right type of load is likely to lead to learning. The wrong amount of the wrong type will hold learning back.  The reason is because our working memory can only cope with a limited amount of load at one time. Once its limit is exceeded, working memory goes into cognitive overload, whereby thinking slows down, we stop understanding things, and we make mistakes. If we want students to learn, then we need to ensure there is load, but not too much load, and not the wrong type TYPES OF LOAD There are two types of cognitive load: 1.Intrinsic load 2.Extraneous load  Intrinsic load is ‘good load’ Extraneous load is ‘bad load’. Intrinsic Load Intrinsic load is what we want students to think about, It is essential to learning. The balance has to be right Think about weightlifting - too heavy, we can’t do it. Too light, it makes no difference We need intrinsic load if we are to learn If there isn’t enough, we are likely to get bored. If there is too much, we get cognitive overload. As a result, we will stop being able to think, we will make mistakes, and learning will stop..  What helps students get the right level of intrinsic load? Pre teaching new vocabulary Knowledge Organisers Less teacher talk Breaking down tasks Giving students time to process Extraneous Load Extraneous load Extraneous load tends to be caused when students are expected to pay attention to too much at once. Quite simply, there is too much information coming at them. For example: Our slides are crammed with text, much of which is unnecessary. Our slides are crammed with clipart. Our explanations are too wordy and long-winded. There is too much noise in the room. Students have to look at multiple sources of information at one time in order to understand what is being Autistic learners are more sensitive to extraneous load. This idea is also mostly reflected in the intense world theory, namely how autistic brains process the things 10x as much as neurotypicals. Autistic people will therefore struggle to ‘filter’ unnecessary information How should this impact on our practice? Think about what you need students to know/learn Provide scaffolding Reduce Extraneous load  The main lesson we can really learn, is that when you lower the extraneous cognitive load in people with autism, they can really start to shine in whatever things they excel in. Second, people with autism usually spend a bigger amount of working memory resources on extraneous cognitive load, because they “filter” (irrelevant) stimuli less effectively than neurotypicals, which reduces the available working memory resources for intrinsic and germane cognitive load