Abstract
Cognitive load theory provides instructional recommendations based on our knowledge of human cognition. Evolutionary psychology is used to assume that knowledge should be divided into biologically primary information that we have specifically evolved to acquire and biologically secondary information that we have not specifically evolved to acquire. Primary knowledge frequently consists of generic-cognitive skills that are important to human survival and cannot be taught because they are acquired unconsciously while secondary knowledge is usually domain-specific in nature and requires explicit instruction in education and training contexts. Secondary knowledge is first processed by a limited capacity, limited duration working memory before being permanently stored in long-term memory from where unlimited amounts of information can be transferred back to working memory to govern action appropriate for the environment. The theory uses this cognitive architecture to design instructional procedures largely relevant to complex information that requires a reduction in working memory load. Many of those instructional procedures can be most readily used with the assistance of educational technology.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baddeley, A. (1999). Human memory. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Chase, W. G., & Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology,4, 55–81.
Chen, O., Castro-Alonso, J. C., Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2018). Extending cognitive load theory to incorporate working memory resource depletion: Evidence from the spacing effect. Educational Psychology Review,30, 483–501. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-017-9426-2.
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2015). The worked example effect, the generation effect, and element interactivity. Journal of Educational Psychology,107, 689–704.
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2016a). Relations between the worked example and generation effects on immediate and delayed tests. Learning and Instruction,45, 20–30.
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2016b). When instructional guidance is needed. Educational and Developmental Psychologist,33, 149–162.
Chen, O., Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2017). The expertise reversal effect is a variant of the more general element interactivity effect. Educational Psychology Review,29, 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-016-9359-1.
Chiesi, H., Spilich, G., & Voss, J. (1979). Acquisition of domain-related information in relation to high and low domain knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour,18, 257–273.
Cooper, G., & Sweller, J. (1987). Effects of schema acquisition and rule automation on mathematical problem-solving transfer. Journal of Educational Psychology,79, 347–362.
Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,24, 87–114.
De Groot, A. (1965). Thought and choice in chess. The Hague: Mouton. (Original work published 1946).
De Groot, A., & Gobet, F. (1996). Perception and memory in chess: Heuristics of the professional eye. Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum.
Egan, D. E., & Schwartz, B. J. (1979). Chunking in recall of symbolic drawings. Memory & Cognition,7, 149–158.
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance; its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist,49, 725–747.
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Long-term working memory. Psychological Review,102, 211–245.
Geary, D. (2002). Principles of evolutionary educational psychology. Learning and Individual Differences,12, 317–345.
Geary, D., & Berch, D. (2016). Evolution and children’s cognitive and academic development. In D. Geary & D. Berch (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on child development and education (pp. 217–249). Switzerland: Springer.
Glogger-Frey, I., Fleischer, C., Grueny, L., Kappich, J., & Renkl, A. (2015). Inventing a solution and studying a worked solution prepare differently for learning from direct instruction. Learning and Instruction,39, 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2015.05.001.
Jeffries, R., Turner, A., Polson, P., & Atwood, M. (1981). Processes involved in designing software. In J. R. Anderson (Ed.), Cognitive skills and their acquisition (pp. 255–283). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2003). The expertise reversal effect. Educational Psychologist,38, 23–31.
Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (2004). When redundant on-screen text in multimedia technical instruction can interfere with learning. Human Factors,46, 567–581.
Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., Tuovinen, J., & Sweller, J. (2001). When problem solving is superior to studying worked examples. Journal of Educational Psychology,93, 579–588.
Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2004). Measuring knowledge to optimize cognitive load factors during instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology,96, 558–568.
Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2005). Rapid dynamic assessment of expertise to improve the efficiency of adaptive E-learning. Educational Technology Research and Development,53, 83–93.
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist,41, 75–86.
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., Kirschner, F., & Zambrano, J. (2018). From cognitive load theory to collaborative cognitive load theory. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning,13, 213–233.
Leahy, W., & Sweller, J. (2011). Cognitive load theory, modality of presentation and the transient information effect. Applied Cognitive Psychology,25, 943–951.
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review,63, 81–97.
Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human problem solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Peterson, L., & Peterson, M. J. (1959). Short-term retention of individual verbal items. Journal of Experimental Psychology,58, 193–198.
Renkl, A. (2013). Toward an instructionally oriented theory of example-based learning. Cognitive Science,38, 1–37.
Renkl, A. (2014). The worked-out examples principle in multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2nd ed.). NY: Cambridge University Press.
Sweller, J. (2010). Element interactivity and intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load. Educational Psychology Review,22, 123–138.
Sweller, J. (2015). In academe, what is learned and how is it learned? Current Directions in Psychological Science,24, 190–194.
Sweller, J. (2016). Working memory, long-term memory and instructional design. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition,5, 360–367.
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York: Springer.
Sweller, J., & Cooper, G. (1985). The use of worked examples as a substitute for problem solving in learning algebra. Cognition & Instruction,2, 59–89.
Sweller, J., Kirschner, P., & Clark, R. E. (2007). Why minimally guided teaching techniques do not work: A reply to commentaries. Educational Psychologist,42, 115–121.
Sweller, J., & Sweller, S. (2006). Natural information processing systems. Evolutionary Psychology,4, 434–458.
Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J., & Paas, F. (2019). Cognitive architecture and instructional design: 20 years later. Educational Psychology Review,31, 261–292.
Tarmizi, R. A., & Sweller, J. (1988). Guidance during mathematical problem solving. Journal of Educational Psychology,80, 424–436.
Tindall-Ford, S., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1997). When two sensory modes are better than one. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,3, 257–287.
Tricot, A., & Sweller, J. (2014). Domain-specific knowledge and why teaching generic skills does not work. Educational Psychology Review,26, 265–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9243-1.
Wong, A., Leahy, W., Marcus, N., & Sweller, J. (2012). Cognitive load theory, the transient information effect and e-learning. Learning & Instruction,22, 449–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.05.004.
Funding
None
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sweller, J. Cognitive load theory and educational technology. Education Tech Research Dev 68, 1–16 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09701-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09701-3