SPACED LEARNING INTERLEAVING RETRIEVAL PRACTICE STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT COGNITIVE LOAD DUAL CODING I looked more closely at retrieval practice in our Autumn EdTech Update and so in this article, I will zoom in on how technology can be a powerful tool to manage cognitive load. In Dylan William’s own words, he’s stated to have ‘come to the conclusion Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know.’
COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY – WHAT IS IT? I won’t cover the theory in-depth here instead I will focus on the basic principles and how it has been suggested that cognitive load can be reduced to improve students’ learning outcomes during lessons. Cognitive Load Theory provides an explanation on how new knowledge is acquired by students and most importantly that the working memory has finite capacity to process new information. This means that when learners are unable to process the quantity of new information in the working memory, it will not be able to transfer to long term memory. In teaching, reducing cognitive load does not need to mean over-simplifying new learning but rather minimizing unnecessary load ensuring the working memory is focused on new information. Technology can become a powerful tool in reducing cognitive load and I could fill this entire publication with ideas, but below I’ve boiled it down to share a few examples of creative ideas that will perhaps inspire your own ideas.
IDEA 1: TEACHING TOOL While as teachers we are often familiar with using atlases in geography, I wonder whether you have considered using digital alternatives? There are many available online and the National Geographic Mapmaker is a particular favourite of mine. When considering cognitive load, digital maps can be enormously helpful in reducing cognitive distraction by limiting the information we choose to display and introducing overlays on a map to enhance understanding. For example, shown below are screenshots that demonstrate how I have used a digital map in the teaching of volcanoes. A key understanding that many in education will be aware of the charity, Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), and its value when trying to better comprehend the value of different pedagogical approaches in the classroom. Recently, there has been increased promotion of cognitive science approaches as a beneficial pedagogical approach. In fact, an EEF teacher survey found that 85% of respondents said that cognitive science strategies were central to their own approach to teaching. Pedagogies underpinned by cognitive science are broad and include: learners must acquire is the relationship between tectonic plates and natural phenomena like volcanoes. With a digital map maker, I can remove all unnecessary detail from the map and initially choose an overlay which only displays tectonic plates and their boundaries. At this point, I can introduce another layer to the map which adds red dots to shows volcanic eruptions. I can add and remove that layer freely and discuss with students their observations. The digital map therefore becomes not only a powerful visual tool evidencing the correlation between volcanoes and tectonic plate boundaries but I’ve also been able to remove any unnecessary detail from the map that could be adding to cognitive load.
IDEA 2: STUDENT TOOL At times, it may reduce cognitive load by providing a digital tool for students to use as opposed to the traditional pen and paper. On the j2data platform there are a number of simple graph making tools. It involves a simple interface in which students press a plus or minus to add images to a pictograph or complete a frequency table to have a bar, line or pie chart produced alongside. Importantly, in the example shown here, the bar chart is produced one step at a time as each row of the table is completed. For some students this can be an important scaffold to reduce cognitive load because at each point a quantity is added to the table a corresponding bar appears. As a result, they are seeing a broken down, step-by-step production of their graph being created. Digital maths manipulatives can similarly reduce cognitive load and focus working memory on the mathematical interaction with a resource rather than the practicalities of giving out equipment, tidying it away and perhaps pieces dropping off the sides of desks! This isn’t to say that students’ should always use digital alternatives but rather suggests how they can be used at appropriate episodes in learning to reduce cognitive load.
IDEA 3: TASK DESIGN TOOL Microsoft Flip is a fantastic free tool that can be used in the classroom. It is a platform which enables students to record video responses of learning and easily return this recording to a central classroom style ‘hub’. As educators, I’m sure we are acutely aware that task design has a significant relationship to our individual students’ cognitive load. For students who may find writing at length a challenge, videos can become a fantastic alternative to record and demonstrate their understanding of learning without expending cognitive load on sentence structure, handwriting, spelling etc. Flip enables teachers to control video length and format while providing students with simple tools to capture videos. Within the tools students can even overlay themselves on another screen where they can be drawing or showing workings. What I hope is that I have in some way persuaded you that digital resources can, not only reduce cognitive load, but can sometimes also, on occasion, trump traditional classroom resources. And if you’re interested in understanding more on how to integrate digital tools across the curriculum from a pedagogically informed perspective, please get in touch to discuss how we can work together to provides staff training or consultation to benefit your school!