Cognitive capacity in self-directed learning: Evidence of middle school students’ executive attention to resist distraction

Abstract

Self-directed learning (SDL) is a rapidly developing trend in schools, although its prerequisites, such as children’s skills and abilities to plan and monitor their own learning, have not been investigated in detail. Due to additional cognitive load it induces, SDL has been in some cases found to be detrimental for learning, especially for students with a lower cognitive capacity. With this study, we explored some of the causes for the variability in learning gains. We examined 111 middle school students' self-directed category learning using an exploratory web-task for autonomous learning, focusing on their information search (browsing a taxonomy of unknown dinosaurs) and their memorization of respective category labels. We were interested to detect whether students’ performance in a complex span task (Ospan) was also reflected in their search and learning behavior. Results revealed different learning gain trajectories in the latter task, where higher WMC students were more confident about their learning. Also, the students with lower WMC were found to search the taxonomy by repeatedly searching the same (basic type of) dinosaur exemplar. In line with prior findings about human mental capacity restrictions and cognitive load theory, the present work evidenced the important role of students’ resistance to distraction, and its relation to differences in self-directed search and memorizing. The results imply the need to teach metacognitive skills and offer supportive scaffolding in order to avoid cognitive overload in SDL.