Cognitive Load

It's all about 'brain space'

Cognitive load is all about how much mental effort it takes to tackle a task. It depends on how tough the task is, how many distractions there are, and what you already know. Below, we make sense of these three factors and what practical steps you can take with each one to improve your learning.

Before we begin...

Think about / discussion:

What do you know about the brain?
What do different areas of the brain do?
Can you have a 'full' brain?
Which things do you find hardest to learn?
What distracts you most in lessons?
What are you most interested in?
What are you most skilled at?

Now look at the diagram below. How much did you know?

The answer is no - you can't have a 'full' brain! It's also a myth that we "only use 1% or 10% of our brains". We need all of our brain to function. Think about it - you wouldn't be happy with someone cutting 90% of it out, would you?!

Cognitive Load means how much 'brain space' we have for tasks and it depends on this:

Reflect on your learning...

Choose a subject that you find it hardest to learn, then answer these questions:

What is the biggest issue? Difficulty of subject, distractions or having no background knowledge?
Finally, think about how you could improve on these three factors in the classroom and at home
What do you need to take responsibility for and what do teachers do to help?

Activity:

Discussion:

Which subjects do you find most difficult (which have the highest intrinsic load for you)?
What things are the most distracting to you in the classroom (extrinsic load)?
What about the most distracting things when you're revising at home (extrinsic load)?
Which hobbies, interests or topics do you have the best background knowledge in?
Where do you get this background knowledge from? Reading? Online? Videos? Direct experience?
What one thing could you do to improve your background knowledge in a hard subject?
What one thing could you do to reduce distractions when working independently?
What is most effective thing your teachers do to reduce distractions?