How to Reduce Students' Cognitive Load During Lessons?
Our active working memory is incredible. It is the location of thought. New information is processed along with what is already in your long-term memory. Learning occurs when some of what you process is written back into your long-term memory.
However, our active working memory is a significant barrier to learning. According to research, it can only keep three to five objects for 10 to 20 seconds. Yikes. Cognitive load refers to the pressures we exert on our very limited active working memory.
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Learning becomes difficult or impossible when pupils' entire cognitive load is too great. One possibility is that their working memory simply cannot accommodate all of the new information at once (we've all felt this way at times). Or they may have adequate capacity to keep and process everything but no "extra" space in their long-term memory to write schema. This manifests as students being able to complete a task in class but unable to do it later. It has not been learned if it has not been kept in long-term memory.
These two circumstances are probably familiar to you as a teacher. So, what are our options? There are two simple places to begin.
REDUCE EXTRANEOUS COGNITIVE LOAD IN AREA 1
Extraneous cognitive load is anything that isn't essential to the learning task itself or isn't part of the process of helping it stick in students' long-term memory. Keep an eye out for extraneous cognitive load and eliminate it wherever you encounter it. Here are a few examples:
Improve your assignments: Provide detailed directions for assignments, particularly homework. Even if you're pressed for time, always ask yourself, "Could I be clearer?" If you have any doubts, edit for clarity. Remember that your students are new to the subject, whereas you are an expert. Keep the following details in mind to help keep things clean and simple:
Each step should be numbered.
Ensure that all pupils have easy access to all necessary resources. If this isn't the case, change your assignments.
Ascertain that the required knowledge and abilities are already in place. If not, revise your tasks.
Allow students to submit their work in only a few different methods.
According to research, the quality of homework assignments is far more essential than the quantity. Make assignments that are deeply connected with what is going on in class rather than as an afterthought.
Enhance the working environment: Reduce background noise in the classroom. If you wish to play music in class, choose when carefully, recognizing that it will create significant additional cognitive strain for some students.
The study of music listening is fascinating and intricate. Music obviously increases superfluous cognitive burden, however for some pupils undertaking certain activities, this may be countered by good effects on stress or focus. Maintain regular dialogues with kids to assist them in discovering what works best for them and when.
Keep visual clutter to a minimum in your classroom. Everything should serve a purpose—design, not decoration. Display fewer items at a time and rotate them throughout the year. Can you think of three things you could get rid of in your room to make it a better place?
More efficiently present information: When presenting slides, try adopting Rich Mayer's multimedia learning principles:
Provide only the information that the learner requires. This usually consists of short text and simple pictures relating to the topic being taught.
Use humor sparingly and only when it enhances the concept you're attempting to impart. Be wary of cartoons and amusing visuals that transform into alluring details. These are remembered by students, but not the crucial points.
Don't make assumptions about what pupils should be looking at; instead, give them verbal clues.
Where feasible, reduce the amount of text. Narration combined with content to read causes cognitive overload, therefore don't read your slides aloud. Prompt pupils to read the text, and then allow them to do so while you remain silent.
Encourage each student's sense of belonging: Each student brings much more to your class than just their book bag. To what extent do you assist with identification verification? To what extent do you make each student feel comfortable, trusting, and as if their own narrative counts in your class? To what extent do you attempt to remove all sources of identity threat? To what extent do you contribute to each student's sense of social and intellectual belonging?
Many students' active working memory may be occupied with things unrelated to the topic of your class for a variety of reasons. For a variety of reasons, the work we do to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is critical. It is critical for teachers to consider the impact on working memory and cognitive load, and consequently on learning.
Create routines and rituals that will make your classroom a secure, predictable environment by investing time early on in developing a positive classroom culture and connections.
AREA 2: USE SCAFFOLDS TO REDUCE WORKING MEMORY DEMANDS
Add scaffolds: These allow students to dump some of their thinking onto paper, allowing them to keep less "new information" in their working memory at the same time. The primary guideline of scaffolding is that they should be transitory, gradually taken off over time, however some pupils may require them to be brought back on occasion. Here are a couple such examples:
Use visual planning sheets to help arrange your thoughts for a piece of writing or to outline certain steps of a math problem. "By writing part of this down, you are freeing up some space in active working memory so that you may think more deeply," explain to pupils.
Allow pupils to use a note card with quotations for the first essay of the year so that they may concentrate on the mechanics of the essay. Explain your reasoning for doing so.
Make a temporary help sheet for a difficult verb tense in Spanish with your pupils.
At the outset of a physics unit, allow pupils to use an equation sheet.
Use a single-column rubric in the "coming up with a plan" stage, as well as for project check-ins throughout and at the end.
Rather than making assumptions or leaving this to chance, create short exercises at the outset of a topic to assist students "awaken" and relate their existing knowledge and experiences to the current topic.
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