Cognitive load theory, spacing effect, and working memory resources depletion: implications for instructional design

In classroom, student learning is affected by multiple factors that influence information processing. Working memory with its limited capacity and duration plays a key role in learner ability to process information and, therefore, is critical for student performance. Cognitive load theory, based on human cognitive architecture, focuses on the instructional implications of relations between working memory and learner knowledge base in long-term memory. The ultimate goal of this theory is to generate effective instructional methods that allow managing students' working memory load to optimize their learning, indicating the relations between the form of instructional design and the function of instructional design. This chapter considers recent additions to the theory based on working memory resources depletion that occurs after exerting significant cognitive effort and reverses after a rest period. The discussed implications for instructional design include optimal sequencing of learning and assessment tasks using spaced and massed practice tasks, immediate and delayed tests

Effects of worked examples on step performance in solving complex problems

The instructional effect of worked examples has been investigated in many research studies. However, most of them evaluated the overall performance of the participants in solving post-intervention problems, rather than individual step performance in multi-step problems. The two experiments reported in this article investigated the relations between using worked examples and individual step performance in solving isomorphic problems. In Experiment 1, the effect of worked examples was found for overall performance for novice learners, whereas this effect was gradually reduced from Step 1 (the most difficult one) at which the effect was the strongest, to Step 3 (the easiest one) at which the effect was the weakest or even disappeared. In Experiment 2, relatively more knowledgeable participants learned the same sets of materials, and no effect of worked examples was found for either overall performance or individual step performance. Learner levels of expertise and levels of element interactivity were used to explain the results

The worked example effect, the generation effect, and element interactivity

The worked example effect indicates that examples providing full guidance on how to solve a problem result in better test performance than a problem-solving condition with no guidance. The generation effect occurs when learners generating responses demonstrate better test performance than learners in a presentation condition that provides an answer. This contradiction may be resolved by the suggestion that the worked example effect occurs for complex, high-element interactivity materials that impose a heavy working memory load whereas the generation effect is applicable for low-element interactivity materials. Two experiments tested this hypothesis in the area of geometry instruction using students with different levels of prior knowledge in geometry. The results of Experiment 1 indicated a worked example effect obtained for materials high in element interactivity and a generation effect for materials low in element interactivity. As levels of expertise increased in Experiment 2, thus reducing effective complexity, this interaction was replaced by a generation effect for all materials. These results suggest that when students need to learn low-element interactivity material, learning will be enhanced if they generate rather than study responses but if students need to learn high-element interactivity material, study may be preferable to generating responses

Designing worked examples to teach primary mathematics: success and failure

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) aims to design load-reduction instructions to facilitate students learning. Worked example effect shows teaching with examples, for novices, is superior to let novices engage in problem solving. This chapter starts introducing human cognitive architecture served as the base of CLT, followed by a summary of CLT effects that apply in teaching mathematics. Some recent research results of designing worked examples in teaching mathematics to primary school students will be reported. The chapter concludes with educational implications and future directions for cognitive load research in mathematics education

Working memory resources depletion makes delayed testing beneficial

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) uses working memory resources depletion to explain the superiority of spaced learning, predicting that working memory resources will be less taxed if there are resting/spacing periods inserted between learning tasks, in comparison to learning from the same tasks in a single session. This paper uses the working memory resources depletion effect, as a factor, to investigate the hypothesis that delayed testing would show superior results to immediate testing on math tasks for primary students in Singapore, as participants’ working memory resources might be restored because of the resting between the immediate and delayed tests. Results confirmed higher performance on the delayed test than on the immediate test, as well as more working memory resources available for the delayed test

Comparing alternative sequences of examples and problem-solving tasks: the case of conceptual knowledge

In cognitive load theory, the superiority of the Example-Problem sequence over the Problem-Example sequence has become a classic paradigm. The comparative effectiveness of these sequences, however, is subject to the influence of the factors of element interactivity and prior knowledge, and studies have examined these influences focused mostly on procedural rather than conceptual knowledge. This paper takes a deeper look at the effect of types of knowledge concentrating on conceptual knowledge. An experiment is reported comparing the Problem-Example and Example-Problem sequences on two levels of element interactivity, low versus high, which were associated with two types of conceptual knowledge (general principle knowledge and knowledge of principles underlying procedures, accordingly). Since there was no difference found between these sequences for either level of element interactivity, the paper discusses conditions of effectiveness of example-based instructions for different knowledge types in the broader context of Explicit Instruction First and Problem-Solving First approaches

Element interactivity as a factor influencing the effectiveness of worked example–problem solving and problem solving–worked example sequences

© 2019 The British Psychological Society Background: The worked example effect in cognitive load theory suggests that providing worked examples first followed by solving similar problems would facilitate students’ learning. Using problem solving–worked example sequence is another way of implementing example-based instruction. Although research has demonstrated the superiority of worked example–problem solving sequence on learning materials that presumably are high in element interactivity for novices, none of the previous studies have compared the two sequences with levels of element interactivity experimentally manipulated in a strictly controlled manner. Aim: The reported study aimed to investigate the effects of levels of element interactivity of the learning tasks and levels of learner prior knowledge on the effectiveness of two alternative example-based sequences, worked example–problem solving versus problem solving–worked example. Sample: Fifty-two Year five students, around 10 to 11 years old, from a primary school in Indonesia participated in Experiment 1, and 96 Year eight students, around 13 to 14 years old, from a secondary school in Indonesia participated in Experiment 2. Methods: 2 (sequences: worked example–problem solving vs. problem solving–worked example) × 2 (levels of element interactivity: low vs. high) experimental design, with the second factor repeatedly measured, was used in the two experiments conducted with learners at different levels of prior knowledge. Result: The results showed the advantage of using worked example–problem solving sequence for learning materials high in element interactivity, especially for novice learners, whereas there were no differences between the worked example–problem solving and problem solving–worked example sequences for learning materials low in element interactivity for more knowledgeable learners. Conclusion: This study not only replicated the results of previous studies, but also extended their findings by experimentally manipulating levels of element interactivity of learning materials

Designing worked examples to teach lower primary school students fractions

Cognitive load theory is an instructional theory which aims to generate innovative instructional methods based on the known characteristics of human cognitive architecture. The worked example effect is a well-established phenomenon in cognitive load theory, indicating advantages of explicit instruction over pure problem-solving activities for novice learners. However, it has been mostly investigated with secondary and high school students rather than younger students, such as lower primary school students. This chapter reviews the worked example effect and provides empirical evidence of applying it in teaching fractions to lower primary school students.</p

Designing worked examples to teach lower primary school students fractions

Cognitive load theory is an instructional theory which aims to generate innovative instructional methods based on the known characteristics of human cognitive architecture. The worked example effect is a well-established phenomenon in cognitive load theory, indicating advantages of explicit instruction over pure problem-solving activities for novice learners. However, it has been mostly investigated with secondary and high school students rather than younger students, such as lower primary school students. This chapter reviews the worked example effect and provides empirical evidence of applying it in teaching fractions to lower primary school students.</p

Improving English language skills through learning mathematic contents: from the expertise reversal effect perspective

Background: Previous research in the field of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has not yet comprehensively investigated the interaction between learners' expertise and the instructional effectiveness. Aims: Taking cognitive load theory as the theoretical framework, a study was conducted to investigate the expertise reversal effect on learning English and mathematics simultaneously: whether an integrated approach (i.e. learning both English and mathematics simultaneously) could facilitate the acquisition of mathematic skills and English linguistic skills as a foreign language more effectively and efficiently than a separated learning approach (i.e. learning Mathematics and English separately). Materials: The materials for the integrated learning approach were in English-only, and the materials for the separated learning approach were in English-and-Chinese. Both sets of materials were given as reading content for teaching mathematic skills and English as a foreign language. Methods: The study adopted a 2 (language expertise: low vs. high) × 2 (instruction: integrated vs. separated) between-subject factorial design with instructional approaches and learners' expertise in English as independent variables, the learning performance in Mathematics and English with the cognitive load ratings as the dependent variables. Sixty-five Year-10 students with lower expertise in English and 56 Year-2 college students with higher expertise in English in China were recruited and allocated to two instructional conditions respectively. Results: An expertise reversal effect was confirmed: the English and mathematics integrated learning approach was more effective for higher expertise learners while the English and mathematics separated learning condition was more beneficial for lower expertise learners.</p