Cognitive Load Optimization – a Statistical Evaluation for three STEM Disciplines

摘要

Learning complex knowledge is the goal of education. Short term memory is the essential conduit for new knowledge to be assimilated with existing knowledge resident in long term memory thereby iteratively creating more complex knowledge. However complex knowledge is difficult to teach and learn because it consists of many interdependent elements which represents a high intrinsic cognitive load that overloads short term memory. This can negatively impact on both student pass and retention rates. Measuring cognitive load is considered problematic. Cognitive Load Optimization provides a simple quantitative method for measuring intrinsic cognitive load. It can also be used to convert complex knowledge with a high intrinsic cognitive load to the simplest possible learning sequence with the optimally minimized cognitive load which can be used as the basis of both instructional design and teaching. For engineering mathematics and navigation disciplines this method resulted in statistically significant improvements in learning outcomes. A partial implementation of this method resulted in a 60% improvement in the pass rate for the programming discipline. This method is theoretically applicable to all STEM disciplines at all educational levels (school, college, university).