Cognitive Load Theory E-Book

Steve Garnett

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 111

Beschreibung

Brings clarity to the complexity surrounding cognitive load theory (CLT) and provides a user-friendly toolkit of techniques designed to help teachers optimise their pupils' learning.?? Foreword by John Sweller. CLT is rapidly becoming education's next 'big thing' - and Professor Dylan Wiliam recently vouched for its significance as being 'the single most important thing for teachers to know'. It is natural, therefore, that teachers will want to know more about it and, more importantly, understand how they can adapt their classroom teaching to take it into account.? Written by author and international teacher trainer Steve Garnett, this invaluable pocket guide offers a complete yet concise summary of what CLT involves and how it can impact on pupil performance. Steve provides a wide range of classroom-based teaching strategies to help teachers avoid 'overloading' their pupils' working memories, and empowers them with the tools to improve learners' retrieval from long-term memory and get them learning more effectively - particularly when learning new content. ? Suitable for teachers, department heads, school leaders and anyone with a responsibility for improving teaching and learning.

Leseprobe

A

Praise for Cognitive Load Theory

Teaching is one of the most important activities associated with the continuity of civilisation. An enormous amount of research relevant to teachers is produced each year, with the vast bulk of it appearing in research journals intended for a researcher rather than practitioner readership. Translating those technical research findings into a form that is accessible to teachers is a rare skill. It is a skill that Steve Garnett has in copious abundance, and in Cognitive Load Theory: A Handbook for Teachers he provides a brilliant exposition of instructional design principles. The book has a consistent clarity of purpose and coherence that justifies a prominent place on every teacher’s bookshelf. I recommend it in the strongest possible terms.

John Sweller, Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, School of Education, University of New South Wales

I think it’s safe to say that Steve Garnett’s Cognitive Load Theory: A Handbook for Teachers is the book that educators have been waiting for. It is a much-needed, timely resource that puts common sense and cognitive science, rather than hunches and fashions, at the heart of the profession.

There are numerous books which now exist which demonstrate how teachers can take back control and strip away the ineffective nonsense, which of course make liberal reference to cognitive load theory. However, this book, dedicated entirely to the idea that working memory is limited, seeks to delve deeper into this theory. Garnett breaks cognitive load theory down into 14 different effects which impact on a range of stages of students’ learning. Each of these are explained using clear, illustrated examples. Crucially, guidance is given that allows the teacher to consider how to adjust his or her lessons in light of these effects in order to maximise students’ understanding and learning.B

With input from cognitive load theory’s main proponent, John Sweller, this book is a must-read for any educator seeking to improve their practice in line with the most up-to-date research.

Sarah Larsen, geography teacher, blogger and speaker

Cognitive load theory is a hot topic in education at the moment – but, as with so much that gets introduced to teachers, there is a risk of it being misunderstood and then mutating into something it was never meant to be.

Steve Garnett’s book should ensure that cognitive load theory is fully understood by busy teachers. It brings a great deal of clarity to a complex area of research and shows how it can be applied in the classroom to help teachers make informed decisions about the way they design their lessons.

Mark Enser, Head of Geography and Research Lead, Heathfield Community College, and author of Teach Like Nobody’s Watching and Powerful Geography

C

i

Acknowledgements

There is no doubt that I am hugely indebted to Emeritus Professor John Sweller for his guidance during the writing of this book. He is, ultimately, the principle reason why this book was written.

I remember clearly the moment when I decided to take the somewhat impulsive decision to find his academic email address via a Google search, which ultimately took me to the University of New South Wales in Australia. From there I wrote a hopeful email wondering if he had the time to have a look at what I had written with a view to possibly offering some pointers as to how it might be improved.

He kindly responded to my email (much to my amazement!) and wrote some very kind words too. From there he continued to review the book as it progressed. As he is the world’s leading authority on this topic, naturally, I waited with bated breath for his emails to arrive. It’s to his credit that they were both hugely encouraging and motivational as well as precise and focused as to how the book could be even better.

He had a huge influence on the final version of the book. Thank you, John.

I would also like to thank the team at Crown House Publishing. My thanks go to managing director David Bowman for saying ‘yes’! I would also like to thank Louise Penny for her constructive comments at the editing stage of the process. There is no doubt that the book improved immeasurably through her insights, observations and, of course, corrections!

Having written an award-nominated book for Crown House Publishing before, I know that the marketing efforts of Rosalie Williams will be such that as many teachers as possible will get to hear about cognitive load theory. Thanks.ii

iii

Preface

I have a picture in my mind of the intended readership of this book. It’s the busy teacher, possibly teaching an overcrowded curriculum in an overcrowded classroom.

This book is for the teacher who doesn’t have the time – or, indeed, perhaps the inclination – to access the original journals or research papers from which this book ultimately draws. Therefore, there is a deliberate approach to style and substance taken in this book, which is to make the theory accessible, practical and ready to be implemented almost immediately.

In short, it’s meant to save time for teachers everywhere.iv

v

Contents

Title PageAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroductionWhere did CLT originate?What does this cognitive science mean for teachers?What types of cognitive load can be placed on working memory?How do I ensure that pupils experience the right amount of cognitive load when learning something new?What are CLT effects and how do they relate to cognitive load specifically?In the classroomTeaching point 1: Introducing a new topicElement interactivity effectIsolated elements effectTeaching a complex concept within an individual lessonSummaryTeaching point 2: Teaching new knowledge/skillsModality effectImagination effectSplit-attention effectRedundancy effectTransient information effectSummaryviTeaching point 3: Checking for recall and understandingCollective working memory effectSummaryTeaching point 4: Pupils demonstrate understandingCompletion problem effectGuidance-fading effectVariability effectExpertise reversal effectGoal-free effectSummaryConclusionReferences and further readingCopyright

1

Introduction

I remember very clearly what I was thinking when I read a tweet that Professor Dylan Wiliam posted on 26 January 2017: a tweet that made a pretty emphatic claim.

I’ve come to the conclusion Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing that teachers should know.1

My thinking was quite simple: ‘I have absolutely no idea what that is!’

I spend my professional life working with teachers to improve all aspects of the learning experience for their pupils. Over the last 12–15 years my work has extended to over 30 countries around the world, including extensive experience across the whole of the UK. When I count the number of workshops and whole-school or whole-staff professional development sessions I have run, the number of teachers I have delivered training to must extend to over 15,000 quite easily.

My point in telling you this is that, up until I saw the Dylan Wiliam tweet, the concept of cognitive load theory (CLT) had never, ever come up. It was never a question raised when training teachers, never came up within a wider, more general conversation related to aspects of pedagogy, nor was it ever requested as a focus for training.

In short, my view was that whilst I certainly had no idea about CLT, teachers – whether working in the primary or secondary sector, whether in state or independent schools, or international schools across the world – had no idea either.

So when a claim as emphatic as Wiliam’s is made about something, I feel I should not only find out what 2it is all about (for my own sake!), but, more importantly, I need to put any new knowledge I gain together so that busy teachers can use these insights to improve their pupils’ learning experiences.

What follows is an attempt to bridge the research base of this theory and show how to put it into practice by describing and demonstrating what should be happening in real classrooms with real pupils when the principles of CLT are embedded.

You might – as I did – have some preliminary questions about CLT, so we’ll begin by exploring those.

Where did CLT originate?

Emeritus Professor John Sweller, of the University of New South Wales, Australia, conceived of the theory of CLT and published a paper on it in April 1988.2 Sweller himself says that after this his work was largely ignored for the next 20 years! Dylan Wiliam’s tweet suggests that the theory had remained largely confined to narrow academic fields, and was certainly not at home in the pedagogical discourse with which normal classroom teachers were familiar.

Sweller’s theory was used to generate hypotheses that were investigated by teams of researchers around the world and tested using randomised controlled trials. The efficacy of CLT rests on a base of hundreds of these randomised controlled trials, testing many thousands of primary and secondary schoolchildren as well as adults.

CLT can be described as something of a ‘moving target’ in the sense that Sweller has been constantly evolving and updating the theory since that first publication in the late 1980s, as we’ll see on the timeline of major developments on pages 18–19. It has also been influenced by new thinking and studies by other researchers. One such example of external influence was as a result of David Geary’s work on 3evolutionary educational psychology.3 Briefly, Geary made a distinction in terms of how the brain processes and organises information, dividing it into two spheres:

1. That which can only be learnt. The first aspect Geary terms ‘biologically primary knowledge’. This relates to all the things the brain does which cannot be formally taught. Essentially things like how to communicate in our first language and how to recognise faces. These things, he says, are just learnt and cannot be formally taught. It’s an evolutionary thing.

2. That which can only be taught. The second is termed ‘biologically secondary knowledge’. This is all the things we need to learn in order to function successfully as human beings in society. Examples can include everything from learning how to count or read, to learning how to ride a bike or change a plug.

This is where schools come in. They are tasked with the purpose of passing on ‘biologically secondary’ skills to pupils. Sweller describes the differences beautifully when he says that (broadly) reading and writing can only be taught, whilst speaking and listening can only be learnt.

Sweller adds a slight adjustment in recognising that, across the curriculum, what needs to be learnt in maths is clearly different to what needs to be learnt in English, so he introduces the phrase ‘domain-specific biologically secondary knowledge’.4 This type of knowledge needs to be taught formally and explicitly to pupils – expressed through the phrase ‘explicit instruction’.

In this model, the pupil is the ‘novice’ and the teacher is the ‘expert’, so passing knowledge from the expert to the novice can be seen as the role of the teacher.

4Geary’s model made total sense to Sweller. It revealed the reason for the struggles that we have when trying to learn biologically secondary knowledge. It’s because we are not (in evolutionary terms) designed to learn this knowledge naturally: so we must be taught it.

What does this cognitive science mean for teachers?

Sweller’s big idea is that the brain has a very specific way of processing the learning of new or novel domain-specific biologically secondary knowledge. Once a teacher understands how this system works, they can improve the quality of instruction that a pupil receives. If the teacher doesn’t understand the system that the brain uses to process this type of new learning, then the quality of learning is hampered.

This is why Sweller describes CLT as an ‘instructional theory’: by understanding it, teachers will be better able to deliver quality instruction.

Figure I.1: The two major components of Sweller’s information processing system

5The information processing system Sweller describes has two major components, as shown in Figure I.1. Figure I.2 then reveals a little more about how working memory and long-term memory function.

Figure I.2: Sweller’s information processing system for new, domain-specific biologically secondary knowledge

Working memory

Figure I.3 (see page 6) locates the position of working memory, towards the front of the brain. In neurological terms it’s in the central executive part of the prefrontal cortex. It’s smaller in size than the part of the brain that stores long-term memories (further back in the brain the hippocampus acts as the trigger for long-term memories).

Working memory is the part of the brain that processes what we are currently doing and thinking. If that is completely new or novel, then we can only deal with a finite amount of information at one time.

How much is a finite amount? Let’s take this example: you make a mental list of 20 items that you need to buy at the supermarket. Sweller agrees with what cognitive psychologist George A. Miller coined as the ‘Magical Number Seven’. Miller’s paper of that name was published in 1956, but the figure still seems to hold true.5