Use of Scaffolds to Manage the Cognitive Load Experienced By Student Teachers in an Online Training Package on Problem Based Learning Strategy (PBLS)

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ms. Vaishali Manoj Sawant
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Online Training ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
New Information ◽  
Significant Difference

Cognitive load refers to load imposed on the working memory while performing a particular task. The basic premise of cognitive load theory is that learners have a limited capacity when dealing with new information. Moreover cognitive load theory assumes that learners have “an effectively unlimited long term memory holding cognitive schemas that vary in their degree of complexity and automation”. Furthermore, when handling new information, working memory is severely limited in both capacity and duration. The educational implication of cognitive load theory hence focuses on reduction of work load on working memory so as to increase learning effectiveness. Because novices lack the schemas necessary to process complex material in working memory, scaffolding for these missing schemas, thereby promotes schema construction. In this study on 41 Student teachers undergoing the online training on Scaffolded Problem Based Learning (PBLS), Cognitive load is measured in terms of mental efforts and mental load experienced by the learners while working towards solutions to the problems. Findings indicate significant difference between the cognitive load felt before and after the training which is also supported by the  qualitative data indicating  reduction in  the cognitive load as the students move from Problem one to Problem ten.

Working memory is limited: improving knowledge transfer by optimising simulation through cognitive load theory

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 131-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Meguerdichian ◽  
Katie Walker ◽  
Komal Bajaj
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Scenario Development ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
Healthcare Simulation ◽  
Simulation Scenario ◽  
Complex Knowledge

This analysis explores how to optimise knowledge transfer in healthcare simulation by applying cognitive load theory to curriculum design and delivery for both novice and expert learners. This is particularly relevant for interprofessional learning which is team-based, as each participant comes to the simulation experience with different levels of expertise. Healthcare simulation can offer opportunities to create complex and dynamic experiences that replicate real clinical situations. Understanding Cognitive Load Theory can foster the acquisition of complex knowledge, skills and abilities required to deliver excellence in patient care without overwhelming a learner's ability to handle new materials due to working memory limitations. The 2 aspects of working memory that will be explored in this paper are intrinsic load and extrinsic load. These will be addressed in terms of the learner's level of expertise and how to consider these elements to enhance the learning environment in simulation scenario development and delivery. By applying the concepts of Cognitive Load Theory, this paper offers educators a method to tailor their curricula to navigate working memory and optimise the opportunity for knowledge transfer.

Working Memory Resources Depletion Makes Delayed Testing Beneficial

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-46
Author(s):  
Ouhao Chen ◽  
Slava Kalyuga
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Primary Students ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
Spaced Learning ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Depletion Effect ◽  
Memory Resources

Cognitive load theory (CLT) uses working memory resources depletion to explain the superiority of spaced learning, predicting that working memory resources will be less taxed if there are resting/spacing periods inserted between learning tasks, in comparison to learning from the same tasks in a single session. This article uses the working memory resources depletion effect, as a factor, to investigate the hypothesis that delayed testing would show superior results to immediate testing on math tasks for primary students in Singapore, as participants' working memory resources might be restored because of the resting between the immediate and delayed tests. Results confirmed higher performance on the delayed test than on the immediate test, as well as more working memory resources available for the delayed test.

Understanding Cognitive Processes in Educational Hypermedia

2006 ◽  
pp. 648-651
Author(s):  
Patricia M. Boechler
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
Educational Hypermedia

Cognitive load theory (CLT) is currently the most prominent cognitive theory pertaining to instructional design and is referred to in numerous empirical articles in the educational literature (for example, Brünken, Plass, & Leutner, 2003; Chandler & Sweller, 1991; Paas, Tuovinen, Tabbers, & Van Gerven, 2003; Sweller, van Merri¸nboer, & Paas, 1998). CLT was developed to assist educators in designing optimal presentations of information to encourage learning. CLT has also been extended and applied to the design of educational hypermedia and multimedia (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). The theory is built around the idea that the human cognitive architecture has inherent limitations related to capacity, in particular, the limitations of human working memory. As Sweller et al. (pp. 252-253) state: The implications of working memory limitations on instructional design cannot be overstated. All conscious cognitive activity learners engage in occurs in a structure whose limitations seem to preclude all but the most basic processes. Anything beyond the simplest cognitive activities appear to overwhelm working memory. Prima facie, any instructional design that flouts or merely ignores working memory limitations inevitably is deficient. It is this factor that provides a central claim to cognitive load theory. In order to understand the full implications of cognitive load theory, an overview of the human memory system is necessary.

Cognitive Load Theory, Spacing Effect, and Working Memory Resources Depletion

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ouhao Chen ◽  
Slava Kalyuga
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Massed Practice ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
Memory Resources

In classroom, student learning is affected by multiple factors that influence information processing. Working memory with its limited capacity and duration plays a key role in learner ability to process information and, therefore, is critical for student performance. Cognitive load theory, based on human cognitive architecture, focuses on the instructional implications of relations between working memory and learner knowledge base in long-term memory. The ultimate goal of this theory is to generate effective instructional methods that allow managing students' working memory load to optimize their learning, indicating the relations between the form of instructional design and the function of instructional design. This chapter considers recent additions to the theory based on working memory resources depletion that occurs after exerting significant cognitive effort and reverses after a rest period. The discussed implications for instructional design include optimal sequencing of learning and assessment tasks using spaced and massed practice tasks, immediate and delayed tests.

Cognitive Load Theory: An Applied Reintroduction for Special and General Educators

2021 ◽  
pp. 004005992110482
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
General Educators ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Load Theory ◽  
New Information ◽  
Attention To Students ◽  
Key Aspects

There are numerous reasons why students with disabilities struggle in school. A key reason is professionals in the field may not pay enough attention to students’ overwhelmed cognitive capacity. Cognitive load theory explains that all humans have limited capacity at any given time to use their auditory, visual, and tactile inputs (independently or collectively) to acquire new information and store it in long-term memory. When available cognition is overwhelmed – which can be caused by any number of reasons – learning cannot occur. In this article, we introduce the key aspects of cognitive load theory and give specific examples of how special educators can use this information to shape their instruction to support students’ unique needs.

Cognitive Load Theory and Human Movement: Towards an Integrated Model of Working Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stoo Sepp ◽  
Steven J. Howard ◽  
Sharon Tindall-Ford ◽  
Shirley Agostinho ◽  
Fred Paas
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Cognitive Load Theory ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Integrated Model ◽  
Load Theory
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