Cognitive load – Mr Watson-Davis
Class arrives, teacher outlines the lesson. ‘The title is ‘blah’, turn to page 63, make sure your bags are on the floor, title and page number are on the board’. Wait two minutes. Hand goes up. ‘What’s the page number Sir?’ Typical teacher response-a slightly testy ‘it’s on the board like I said’ or similar. Correct teacher response ‘I’m terribly sorry I gave you cognitive overload. Of course you don’t know. It is page 63.’
As a teacher it is easy to realise the scenario above both in class and in real life. Outside of school anyone who has pulled over to ask directions in a car gets a version of ‘Go straight along, take the second left, bear right, and it is just past the pub-the Admiral Benbow I think-on the left.’ Result, you drive off and within two minutes ask someone else as you can’t remember half of the advice. Or when given a shopping request by a (soon to be annoyed) loved one- ‘Tin of tomatoes, four bananas, pick up some corn flakes, and post the letter.’ If you are lucky you will bring back some tomatoes and possibly an unposted letter. More cognitive overload.
Current learning research based on how the brain processes information clearly points towards the problem of overload. Although it varies between individuals the basic point is that the brain is not equipped to grasp more than a couple of instructions at a time. Simply put-working memory, which we use for language comprehension, problem solving and planning, has a very small capacity.
For learning in the classroom this (admittedly simplistic first three paragraphs) leads to how cognitive overload may affect learning. There are three load types that work together to form working memory 1. intrinsic load 2. extraneous load and 3. germane load . Cognitive overload happens when the capacity of the working memory is exceeded.
- Intrinsic load. Intrinsic load is related to the inherent difficulty of the subject matter being learnt. Crudely put some tasks require more brain power than others due to their complexity.
- Extrinsic load. It Is any extra and unnecessary thinking that students have to do that does not contribute to task or learning. Extraneous load is related to how the subject material is presented. So lesson instructions can be presented in a complex way that overloads, likewise car directions.
- Germane load. A bit of a holy grail for teaching. It is the load placed on working memory that contributes directly to building and developing learning. Creating the productive thinking that causes pupils to form, and consolidate, long-term memory.
The clearest way forward to reduce cognitive overload as a teacher is to address extrinsic load. Or to cite my two previous examples ‘Title and page number are on the board’ and ‘Buy a Satnav.’
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