Cognitive load theory – CPD poster for teachers

What's included?

PDF poster

Key Stage

KS3, KS4

Age

Years 7-11

Subjects

Revision

What is cognitive load theory?

How we learn is constrained by our biology. Knowing what this entails is an enormous help in designing effective teaching. Cognitive load theory spills the beans on what our limits are and how teachers can get reduce their impact.

This free poster sets out nine important components of cognitive load theory. These include:

Working memory limits – our working memory comprises the attention we use to think. It is very limited and gets jammed as we attempt to get new information organised and into long-term memory.
Novices and experts – novices and experts think in different ways. Experts easily and fluidly use elaborate schema in their long-term memory to overcome the limits of working memory. Novices, alas, can’t.
Borrwed knowledge – borrowed knowledge refers to already existing organisation of information held by experts. There is little sense in hoping that novices can succeed in duplicating this achivement.

Other points covered include:

Intrinsic vs extrinsic load
Transient information effect
Split attention
Modaility effect
Worked example
Guidance fading effect

Oliver Caviglioli is a former special school headteacher, who is now an information designer, creating visual clarity around teaching concepts and processes. You can find him at olicav.com and follow him on Twitter at @olicav.