Thank you for such an elegant response to the Cognitive Load Theory. My thinking has been pushed as an educator to consider the types of scaffolds I am using to maximize students' thinking during instruction and to not continue to minimize students' thinking during instruction. My recommendations will be different in the near future.
In my experience with developing performance tasks for ELA instruction, I have tried to scaffold intrinsic cognitive load by the order of the questions provided in the task. My hope in the past was to scaffold by presenting the knowledge and comprehension questions first and gradually add in analysis and synthesis type questions later using the Depth of Knowledge construct from Karen Hess. After reading your article, I was wondering if complexity could be scaffolded by the order the cognitive demand of the task for students, which could possibly support the germane cognitive load as an unintended by product.
Let me know your thoughts. I am curious about Cognitive Load Theory as a construct for supporting all teachers but in particular, I am most curious how this line of thinking could change instruction for student receiving special education instruction and student who are multilingual learners. To have a concept that could help educators and me not water down instruction and not create paralyzing frustration would be remarkable.
Thank you for this clear explanation of Cognitive Load Theory. I'd like to add another dimension to consider: how trauma affects students' cognitive load capacity.
For students who have experienced trauma, their baseline working memory capacity may be significantly reduced as their brains allocate resources to monitoring for threats and managing emotional regulation. This creates what might be considered a "trauma tax" on cognitive resources before any learning even begins.
Van der Kolk's research on trauma shows how physiological responses to past trauma can persist, potentially consuming resources that would otherwise be available for learning. This suggests we should consider trauma-informed approaches when applying Cognitive Load Theory in practice.
When designing instruction, we might need additional scaffolding strategies for trauma-affected learners, as their threshold for cognitive overload may be lower. Creating predictable learning environments with appropriate emotional support might free up cognitive resources that would otherwise be consumed by hypervigilance.
Has anyone explored specific interventions that address this intersection of trauma and cognitive load in classroom settings?
Diane, thanks for the thoughtful comment. To answer your question, I am unaware of any work that looked at the interaction of trauma and cognitive load. Typically, the cognitive load research has been pretty silent when it comes to many of the affective moderators of learning such as motivation and anxiety.
Good day Dr. Nobili,
Thank you for such an elegant response to the Cognitive Load Theory. My thinking has been pushed as an educator to consider the types of scaffolds I am using to maximize students' thinking during instruction and to not continue to minimize students' thinking during instruction. My recommendations will be different in the near future.
In my experience with developing performance tasks for ELA instruction, I have tried to scaffold intrinsic cognitive load by the order of the questions provided in the task. My hope in the past was to scaffold by presenting the knowledge and comprehension questions first and gradually add in analysis and synthesis type questions later using the Depth of Knowledge construct from Karen Hess. After reading your article, I was wondering if complexity could be scaffolded by the order the cognitive demand of the task for students, which could possibly support the germane cognitive load as an unintended by product.
Let me know your thoughts. I am curious about Cognitive Load Theory as a construct for supporting all teachers but in particular, I am most curious how this line of thinking could change instruction for student receiving special education instruction and student who are multilingual learners. To have a concept that could help educators and me not water down instruction and not create paralyzing frustration would be remarkable.
Excellent blog. 🙌🏿
Thank you for this clear explanation of Cognitive Load Theory. I'd like to add another dimension to consider: how trauma affects students' cognitive load capacity.
For students who have experienced trauma, their baseline working memory capacity may be significantly reduced as their brains allocate resources to monitoring for threats and managing emotional regulation. This creates what might be considered a "trauma tax" on cognitive resources before any learning even begins.
Van der Kolk's research on trauma shows how physiological responses to past trauma can persist, potentially consuming resources that would otherwise be available for learning. This suggests we should consider trauma-informed approaches when applying Cognitive Load Theory in practice.
When designing instruction, we might need additional scaffolding strategies for trauma-affected learners, as their threshold for cognitive overload may be lower. Creating predictable learning environments with appropriate emotional support might free up cognitive resources that would otherwise be consumed by hypervigilance.
Has anyone explored specific interventions that address this intersection of trauma and cognitive load in classroom settings?
Diane, thanks for the thoughtful comment. To answer your question, I am unaware of any work that looked at the interaction of trauma and cognitive load. Typically, the cognitive load research has been pretty silent when it comes to many of the affective moderators of learning such as motivation and anxiety.