Perspective Of Cognitive Load Theory Research Articles

Reflection of Individual Cognitive Load Theories in Digital Learning from a Pedagogical Point of View – an Empirical Study of the Impact of Language Skills in an E-learning Program For Migrants And Refugees

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) deal with the thesis that human working memories can only store and retain a limited number of items and address how to utilize individual capacity in the learning process without provoking cognitive overload. Based on these theoretical insights, traditional ways of non-digitalized learning are usually perceived to be more effective, as there may be less cognitive overload due to digital multimedia design; however, with the use of modern technology, digital educational offerings such as e-Learning programs can be effective as modified and tailored to the learners’ needs. This article studies how language barriers can negatively impact the success of eLearning programs for migrants and refugees from the perspective of CLT and a pedagogical point of view. The theoretical framework of CLT and CTML applied to interpret the findings from empirical data collected as part of the EU-funded project “Young Refugees AI Student Empowerment Program – RAISE.” The project aims to capture the participants´ experiences and cognitive skills by shaping pedagogical strategies that adjust to the learner’s optimal pace and learning needs. The study explores the structural requirements of eLearning programs for migrants and refugees based on Cognitive Load Theories. The baseline is that eLearning is complex and demands significant working memory resources. This effect is significantly elevated to a point where it harms learning when the external demands vastly exceed the corresponding cognitive working memory resources.

The Relationship between Interleaving and Variability Effects: A Cognitive Load Theory Perspective

The interleaving effect indicates that students learn better from multiple areas that are interleaved rather than blocked. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the effect is because interleaving facilitates comparisons between areas and is a variation of the variability effect that increases intrinsic cognitive load. Experiment 1 used an interleaved design with two obviously different topics and found no interleaving effect. Experiment 2 used a similar design but used topics that were more difficult to discriminate between, resulting in a clear advantage for the interleaved group associated with an increase in cognitive load. These results support the hypothesis that the interleaving and variability effects are closely related.

Differences in Learning Effectiveness Across Management Learning Environments: A Cognitive Load Theory Perspective

The extant literature indicates that blended learning leads to better outcomes compared to traditional lectures in management education. However, the working memory, which processes all incoming information, can be assumed to already work at capacity in traditional lectures. As blended environments cannot extend this capacity, they can only improve learning effectiveness if they can influence the mechanics underlying the working memory. Drawing on cognitive load theory from educational psychology, we posit that blended learning, by using technology as a differentiator, provides instructional designers with additional options and tools. When utilized effectively, these choices can reduce learners’ cognitive load related to the design and increase cognitive load related to learning. Our assumptions are based on a case study with two different learning formats, including a blended environment that actively integrates technologies into the curriculum. Empirical evidence supports our hypotheses. We contribute to educational technology research in management education by explicitly considering the mechanics of the cognitive system and the effects of instructional design, curriculum choice, and related technology use. Our results suggest that blended environments can improve learning effectiveness if technologies are well integrated into curricula. Educational technologies, thus, provide entirely new opportunities for management educators but also require faculty development.

Construction of Middle School English Multimodal Classroom from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

Construction of Middle School English Multimodal Classroom from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

Modeling teachers’ reactions to unexpectedness

BackgroundEven experienced teachers make inconsistent classroom decisions in unexpected situations. From the cognitive load theory perspective, the effective handling of the novel, unexpected events by teachers depends on the cognitive load of the task, the teaching context in which the unexpectedness appears, and the available cognitive capacity. AimsTeachers’ reactions to unexpected mathematical events, in particular the unexpectedness of the arithmetic calculation, was modeled, investigated experimentally, and explained within the theoretical framework of cognitive load theory. Sample64 mathematics teacher trainees took part in the experiment. MethodsIn a dual-task arrangement, participants verified alternative answers to simple mathematical questions while memorizing task-irrelevant information. The answers represented low (schematic good responses), and high (unexpected good responses) processing load conditions, and control condition (incorrect responses). The memory load was low or high representing levels of extraneous load. The participants’ cognitive capacity was estimated by a complex working memory span task. ResultsThe verification of unexpected but correct answers was slow and more error-prone as compared with the processing speed and accuracy of schematic answers, presumably due to elevated processing (intrinsic) load. The increase in memory load resulted in slower and more inaccurate verifications. However, working memory capacity was found to mediate the extraneous load effect. ConclusionsThe results stress the importance of well-organized schemas for effective reactions to unexpected classroom events. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of accurately understanding and being aware of the impact of cognitive load on teachers to improve teaching practice.

Teaching presence promotes learner affective engagement: The roles of cognitive load and need for cognition

The association between teaching presence and learners' affective engagement was examined, along with the mediating effect of cognitive load and the moderating effects of need for cognition. A self-report survey of 883 university students was carried out. Results showed that teaching presence enhanced affective engagement, in part through cognitive load, and that need for cognition amplified teaching presence's beneficial effect while attenuating cognitive load's detrimental one on affective engagement. The results may help us better understand how instructional elements affect learners' affective-motivational outcomes by supporting the integrated expectancy-value-cost theory and cognitive load theory perspective. Practical implications were discussed.

Mimicking tracing actions enhances young children's mathematical learning

AbstractLearning mathematical concepts and procedures typically requires extended cognitive effort, presenting a challenge for many children. People can make tracing actions with the index finger, as well as mimic another's movements, with little or no conscious effort. From the perspective of cognitive load theory, such biologically primary actions may facilitate learning biologically secondary concepts and skills requiring extensive cognitive effort, such as mathematics. The present study investigated effects on learning processes and outcomes of students mimicking a teacher's tracing actions from the perspective of an evolutionarily informed cognitive load theory. One hundred and thirteen Grade Two children learned about number lines, either observing a teacher tracing out elements of worked examples with her index finger, or mimicking the teacher's tracing actions with their own index finger. In accord with hypotheses, results indicated enhanced performance due to mimicking on cognitive load, motivation, and post‐test performance. Directions for future research are discussed.

A Study on EFL Instructional Design from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive load is commonly defined as the amount of mental effort that performing a specific task imposes on a learner’s cognitive system. For EFL learners, with their limited English proficiency and cultural immersion, always find it overwhelming to comprehend a content lesson delivered in English. Cognitive load theory draws on an understanding of human cognitive architecture to provide explanations for why certain designs of multimedia educational materials are effective and why some are not. This study evaluated the split-attention and redundancy principles in an Intensive Reading lesson for non-English majored students and their potential to decrease mental effort and increase learning.

An Analysis of Japanese EFL Learners’ Lecture Comprehension Strategy from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

An Analysis of Japanese EFL Learners’ Lecture Comprehension Strategy from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

Investigating the Benefits of Integrated Anatomy Instruction: A Cognitive Load Theory Perspective

Declining anatomy knowledge of junior doctors has been linked to clinical error judgement and medicolegal litigation. To overcome the problem, anatomy educators have introduced many teaching initiatives during undergraduate study that might promote anatomy knowledge acquisition and retention, including anatomy teaching using integrated instruction. Anatomy instruction can be integrated in terms of its contents and teaching approach. Learning from integrated anatomy instruction allows students to relate anatomy subjects with different subdisciplines and to comprehend related clinical context for future application. On the other hand, the integrated approach for anatomy teaching caters to different types of learning styles, therefore ensuring optimal learning. Nevertheless, causal relationships between integrated anatomy instruction and student learning has never been explicitly explored. Hence, this article aims to unearth the elements of integrated anatomy teaching that promote learning through instructional design theory, namely, cognitive load theory (CLT).

How language background impacts learners studying International Financial Reporting Standards: a cognitive load theory perspective

ABSTRACT This study offers evidence of the impact of language background on the performance of students enrolled in an accounting study unit. It aims to quantify the effects of language background on performance in essay questions, compared to calculation questions requiring an application of procedures. Marks were collected from 2850 students. The results were examined using a two-way mixed ANOVA. A significant interaction was found. There was no significant difference in performance on calculation questions between those students with an English language background and students with a language background other than English. Students with an English language background performed better on essay questions. Cognitive load theory suggests that these differences in results are due to the burden of additional cognitive translation processes taking up restricted working memory resources for students with a language background other than English on questions with a heavy language component. Implications for accounting educators are discussed.

Challenges in learning aerobic and anaerobic concepts: an interpretative understanding from the cognitive load theory perspective

ABSTRACT Purpose: It has been acknowledged in physical education (PE) that knowledge empowers learners to develop a physically active lifestyle In this study, we consider Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) as a valuable extension of the constructivist learning theory to help articulate the role of three pivotal instructional factors, content knowledge, learners, and instructional process, in learning fitness knowledge in PE. Guided by CLT, this study was intended to identify middle school students’ cognitive architecture about aerobic and anaerobic concepts and pedagogical factors that might enhance or limit scientific conceptualization. Methods: We employed a mixed-methods approach. A total of 291 students randomly drawn from the 24 schools provided data on conceptual knowledge levels via standardized test and conceptual structures of understanding via semi-structured interviews about the aerobic/anaerobic concepts. Results: Results from integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal the role of task element interactivity as a function of conceptualization in the students’ cognitive architecture. The students lack the understanding that aerobic and anaerobic concepts are associated with the concepts of complex metabolic systems that dictate the energy pathways experienced in physical activity. Their understandings are characterized by a tendency of overly simplifying the complex conceptions for convenient schema activation. The simplified conception is likely to prohibit their understanding from becoming consistent with the science. The findings suggest that teachers should anticipate lack of understanding of knowledge connectivity when teaching fitness concepts and establish the task element interactivity with enhanced clarity to facilitate knowledge learning. Conclusion: Consistent with the constructivist learning theory, the findings inform us that teaching complex fitness concepts require the teacher to connect prior knowledge as a prerequisite to activate relevant cognitive architecture and actively build connections between the prior knowledge and the to-be learned concepts. PE curriculum designers and teachers should anticipate the complex challenges in teaching the aerobic and anaerobic concepts because of their connections to other concepts associated with human energy systems such as intensity and oxygen supply.

Tracing enhances problem‐solving transfer, but without effects on intrinsic or extraneous cognitive load

SummaryPeople can make pointing gestures and tracing actions with the index finger with little or no conscious effort. From the perspective of cognitive load theory, such “biologically primary” gestures and actions might help people learn “biologically secondary” concepts and skills requiring extended cognitive effort, such as reading, science, or mathematics. Studies on tracing or tracing and pointing have yielded mixed findings regarding hypothesized effects on intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load. The present study investigated whether computer‐based instructions to trace elements of worked examples on angle relationships would affect school students' (N = 106) self‐reports of intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load, as well as problem‐solving transfer test performance. The tracing effect on transfer posttests seen in prior studies was replicated, but cognitive load hypotheses were not supported. Implications for educational practice and future research are discussed.

Structured Query Language Learning: Concept Map-Based Instruction Based on Cognitive Load Theory

Structured query language (SQL) is difficult to master because the execution process of SQL statements is invisible. When learning to construct an SQL query, learners must visualise the evolution process of the intermediate datasets of the SQL statement in working memory, which may burden learners' cognitive load and consequently jeopardise learning outcomes. This study describes the execution process of SQL statements by using concept maps to improve learners' understanding of SQL. An empirical experiment was conducted using two database courses, namely concept map-based and conventional instruction, to examine the relationship between concept maps and the understanding of SQL from a cognitive load theory perspective. The experimental results demonstrated the superiority of concept map-based instruction over conventional instruction because concept map-based instruction reduces extraneous load but increases germane load. Concept map construction facilitated learner engagement and promoted meaningful learning. Studying the instructors' concept maps helped learners follow the cognitive structures used by instructors to perform SQL queries, and enabled them to perceive the execution process of SQL queries relatively easily. These results potentially help educators understand the learning difficulties caused by the declarative nature of SQL and motivating researchers to resolve the inherent problem by considering learners' cognitive processes.

Explore the Reform and Practice of College English Flipped Classroom Teaching Model from the Perspective of Cognitive Load Theory

<p align="justify">With the development of the Internet increasingly mature, people’s social life all aspects are affected greatly, especially for the field of education, which is supported by information technology of the Internet. It began to create a new teaching mode, and one of the most representative is to flip the classroom teaching model. This model is the new teaching ideas and practice in the process of education reform, which is now widely used in college English classroom teaching. From the perspective of cognitive load theory, this paper explores the problems encountered in the reform and practice of college English flipped classroom teaching model from the perspectives of correlated cognitive load, external cognitive load and internal cognitive load.</p>

Supporting collaborative learning using a diagram‐based visible thinking tool based on cognitive load theory

AbstractA natural concern in the field of computer‐supported collaborative learning is how participants in collaborative learning project attain individual deep understanding through pedagogical or technological support. This study explores such individual outcomes as influenced by designing a collaborative learning project supported with a diagram‐based thinking tool based on cognitive load theory (CLT). A comparative experiment was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the diagram‐based thinking tool. A total of 49 first‐year graduate students were recruited and assigned to two conditions. In the experiment condition, the group students completed the collaborative learning project through a diagram‐based thinking tool, while the group students in the control condition completed the same project through an alternative text‐based thinking tool. Pre‐and posttesting of the domain knowledge was employed to evaluate each individual's learning outcome. Group discourse was employed to evaluate how group students actively engage during collaboration. Results show that the support of diagram‐based thinking tool integrated in collaborative learning can facilitate individual understanding intensively. Moreover, diagram‐based thinking tool can engage group students into cognitively demanding learning activities actively. Findings demonstrate that the semantic diagram tool provides promising technological support when designing collaborative learning project based on CLT. This study serves as a foundation to the design of technological support for future classroom‐based collaborative learning project. Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic According to cognitive load theory, the construction of shared knowledge and also the benefit of communication and coordination during social interaction should be optimized when design the collaborative learning. To help learners benefit from social interaction during collaborative learning project, technological support should be carefully designed. External representations have been recognized as one kind of suitable technological affordance for learners’ cognitive and social development. What this paper adds The diagram‐based visible thinking tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support integrated in collaborative learning can facilitate individual understanding intensively. The diagram‐based thinking tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support can actively engage group students into cognitively demanding learning activities. Implications for practice and/or policy The idea of semantic diagram tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support is suitable technological support for effective collaborative learning from the perspective of cognitive load theory. The idea of semantic diagram tool with conceptual and socio‐cognitive support provide teachers with more understandable guidance to design and conduct the collaborative learning project in the classroom.

Quantifying the impact of language on the performance of international accounting students: A cognitive load theory perspective

This study offers timely empirical evidence of the magnitude of the language effect on the performance of different language user groups, namely English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English as a Second Language (ESL), and English as a Native Language (ENL) in an accounting program instructed in English, an area that has been under researched. Informed by Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), this study develops an innovative research methodology (crossover repeated measures design), drawing on a large data analysis (n = 2912) of students' academic results in six accounting specialisation subjects between 2007 and 2014 in an Australian university's undergraduate accounting program. Results show that while all language user groups perform worse in more conceptually (MC) oriented subjects compared to less conceptually (LC) oriented subjects, the relative performance between MC and LC is strongly related to English language user groups. For the first time the magnitude of the impact is derived. The study has implications for the instructional design of accounting programs in English-speaking universities and their offshore programs in non-English speaking countries.

Self-Generation in the Context of Inquiry-Based Learning.

Self-generation of knowledge can activate deeper cognitive processing and improve long-term retention compared to the passive reception of information. It plays a distinctive role within the concept of inquiry-based learning, which is an activity-oriented, student-centered collaborative learning approach in which students become actively involved in knowledge construction by following an idealized hypothetico-deductive method. This approach allows students to not only acquire content knowledge, but also an understanding of investigative procedures/inquiry skills – in particular the control-of-variables strategy (CVS). From the perspective of cognitive load theory, generating answers and solutions during inquiry-based learning is inefficient as it imposes an intrinsic and extraneous load on learners. Previous research on self-generation of content knowledge in inquiry-based learning has demonstrated that (1) a high cognitive load impairs retention of the generated information, (2) feedback is a fundamental requirement for self-generation of complex content knowledge, (3) self-generation success is key to long-term retention, and (4) generating and rereading place different demands on learners. However, there is still no research on the self-generation of scientific reasoning skills (procedural knowledge) and no knowledge of interaction between the (long-term) retention of these skills with prior knowledge, feedback and self-generation success. That is why this experiment was conducted. The focus of this research is to analyze the distinctive role of self-generation of scientific reasoning skills within the concept of inquiry-based learning and to identify the influence of prior knowledge and self-generation success on short-term and long-term retention. For this purpose, an experiment involving 133 6th and 7th graders was conducted. An inquiry activity that included the self-generation of scientific reasoning skills was compared to an inquiry task that had students simply read information about the experimental design. We used both an immediate and a delayed test to examine which treatment better developed a deeper understanding of CVS and an ability to apply this knowledge to novel problems (transfer). Direct instruction was clearly superior to self-generation in facilitating students’ acquisition of CVS immediately after the inquiry task. However, after a period of 1 week had elapsed, both treatment conditions turned out to be equally effective. A generation effect was only found among students with high self-generation success after a 1-week delay.

Investigation of non-native learners’ informal learning processes from cognitive-load theory perspective

ABSTRACTThis study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the subtitles embedded into either declarative or procedural video on non-native Turkish speakers’ understandings of the content. In addition, their perceived difficulties about and eye behaviors during watching the two videos were explored. There were 40 volunteer international students from various departments. Two experiments were designed to observe how participants’ retention performance changed according to the content given in the videos. As participants individually watching the videos, their eye behavior was recorded for more objective observations about their fixations on either subtitle or main areas of the screen. In this way, their eye behaviors and their retention performance were compared. The findings showed that there were no significant differences in participants’ scores of retention and perceived difficulty regardless of both the video type (declarative vs. procedural) and subtitle existence (subtitled vs. non-subtitled). Moreover, the declarative video was perceived as difficult despite being easy-to-follow. The eye movement data analysis showed that in both the video types, the number of fixations on the subtitle AOI and main AOI were high in a parallel way, but when the participants experienced with procedural video, the percentage of fixations on subtitle area increased.

How to teach geometry theorems using worked examples: A cognitive load theory perspective

Some geometry theorems are studied at Year 7, such as angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal line. There are at least nine theorems should be simultaneously considered to solve a complex problem-solving in this topic. For example, a problem about angles formed by parallel lines and more than one transversal lines. Many students often have difficulties when solving the problem in this topic because it requires a good understanding of angle representation. A Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) has suggested that learning complex problem solving is more efficient for novices when worked examples are presented. Worked Examples (WE) are suggested for novice learners because it can reduce the extraneous cognitive load. Hence, working memory with limited capacity and duration can construct knowledge effectively. However, there are issues when designing WE for most geometry problems, such as the split attention. This paper presents some WE of angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal lines in several theorems. This paper discusses further how to teach the WE and propose four learning steps: (1) apperception, (2) students solve geometry problems with worked example strategies, (3) students present the results of work, and (4) teachers guide students to conclude learning outcomes.