After rereading Artino (2008)'s Cognitive Load Theory and the Role of Learner Experience: An Abbreviated Review for Educational Practitioners, I posted "Cognitive Load Theory in 5 tweets" to @EdInspirations to help me internalize the takeaways:
Beyond the tweets, I also picked a few points I would like to take with me to the classroom next year. First, Artino's article brought up some classroom strategies teachers can use to reduce extraneous cognitive load, by:
An aside: these findings remind me just how important reducing anxiety is in the classroom. One of the key places I try to reduce anxiety is by working to foster a sense of belonging for my students, as constantly wondering if you fit in imposes a cognitive load that adversely effects learning (see imposter syndrome). Anxiety also seriously effects minority students and women in the form of "stereotype threat," discovered by Claude M. Steele and explained in "Whistling Vivaldi." A few great ways to reduce anxiety in the classroom and make everyone feel comfortable is to:
Second, I liked the idea that:
This rang true for me because, while teachers are often focused on inspiring students with amazing lessons, the real goal of education is develop competencies and understand how they are useful within broader knowledge bases. For example, no matter how smart a student is, if they don't have certain skills automated, or executed with small amounts of working memory usage, it will put them at a huge disadvantage compared to their peers who do (think slow typing, weak computational math skills, poor grammar, etc.), not to mention create a comparatively large extraneous cognitive load which will overload students as they take on more difficult challenges and problems. Plus, I think intrinsic motivation, from student competency and choice in topics or assessment that connect to prior knowledge, are far more beneficial in the long-term than having an engaging teacher.
If you have any thoughts about this reflection, leave a comment!
Beyond the tweets, I also picked a few points I would like to take with me to the classroom next year. First, Artino's article brought up some classroom strategies teachers can use to reduce extraneous cognitive load, by:
- using goal-free problems (with nonspecific goals), which reduce the anxiety associated with reaching a goal
- using worked examples (instead of conventional problems), as weak method problem solving asks learners to figure out best method and reduces anxiety associated with success at completing conventional problems
- using problems with partial solutions, as they reduce the size of problem space and anxiety
- integrating all info into one medium (powerpoint, words on images), which expand a student's working memory capacity by using both visual and auditory channels of processing
- putting all info in one place (only one source of info instead of many) - no redundancy and unnecessary processing of info more than once
An aside: these findings remind me just how important reducing anxiety is in the classroom. One of the key places I try to reduce anxiety is by working to foster a sense of belonging for my students, as constantly wondering if you fit in imposes a cognitive load that adversely effects learning (see imposter syndrome). Anxiety also seriously effects minority students and women in the form of "stereotype threat," discovered by Claude M. Steele and explained in "Whistling Vivaldi." A few great ways to reduce anxiety in the classroom and make everyone feel comfortable is to:
- meet with students individually so each student's wants, needs, and family situation are known, building teacher-student trust
- make a "learning contract" with the class that every student signs, where students propose values that will be upheld in the classroom, so everyone can feel comfortable and students can be held accountable to a 'moral code.'
- hold students to high levels of achievement, but let them know that you believe they can accomplish those goals
Second, I liked the idea that:
- "schema construction and automation become the major goals for instructional systems that are developed from a cognitive load perspective (Sweller et al.)."
This rang true for me because, while teachers are often focused on inspiring students with amazing lessons, the real goal of education is develop competencies and understand how they are useful within broader knowledge bases. For example, no matter how smart a student is, if they don't have certain skills automated, or executed with small amounts of working memory usage, it will put them at a huge disadvantage compared to their peers who do (think slow typing, weak computational math skills, poor grammar, etc.), not to mention create a comparatively large extraneous cognitive load which will overload students as they take on more difficult challenges and problems. Plus, I think intrinsic motivation, from student competency and choice in topics or assessment that connect to prior knowledge, are far more beneficial in the long-term than having an engaging teacher.
If you have any thoughts about this reflection, leave a comment!