The Single Most Important Thing For Teachers To Know

"The single most important thing for teachers to know" according to Dylan Wiliam is Cognitive Load Theory. Bearing in mind how influential his views have been in developing my teaching and raising the standards of the teaching profession in general, especially through the use of AfL, that is more than enough motivation for me to research this theory and apply it in the classroom.

Cognitive Load Theory was developed by John Sweller in 1988. The cognitive load refers to the amount of information the working memory can hold at one particular time. If someone attempts to hold too much information at one time in the working memory we can experience what is called 'cognitive overload', where the memory essentially stops working.

For example; how many orders of drinks can you remember at the bar before it becomes too much and you have to check back *cognitive overload*. How many digits of a phone number until your mind goes blank *cognitive overload*. How many simple tasks you attempt simultaneously until all the tasks get stopped in confusion *cognitive overload*.

A basic understanding of this concept shouldn't be too difficult to grasp as at one time or another I think we will all have experienced it. I also think, as teachers, we would all be in agreement that this is not an experience we want our pupils to have when we are teaching them. So how can we prevent this from happening in our classrooms?

There seem to be a few misconceptions that we should just get rid of displays and stop using PowerPoints/Google Slides, but it is not as simple as this. Albeit research does suggest simplifying displays to meaningful information with interactive elements does support learning more so than beautifully decorated extravaganzas; and that PowerPoints/Slides should be adapted to reduce the amount of content displayed and include a visual element.

For a greater understanding of cognitive load theory, a little practical information about how memory works is required. Below is a commonly accepted diagram of the working memory published by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968.

Essentially new information is taken in by our sensory memory and much of this information is instantly forgotten. New information or something we are focusing on moves to the working memory. This has a limited space and can hold memories for a limited time. Research suggests about 5 or 6 pieces of information is about the limit of the working memory. For some people this may be slightly more or slightly less. If there is too much information in the working memory then we can experience cognitive overload. For true long term learning to take place we need information to pass into the long term memory and this can be done by repeatedly retrieving, rehearsing and encoding informal. For practical tips on how to move information into the long term memory, and prevent forgetting, see my post on Retrieval Practice. The long term memory has the potential to hold unlimited information for an unlimited time, and importantly to Cognitive Load Theory, we can use the information in the long term memory without fear of suffering from cognitive overload.

This becomes vitally important in the classroom when we are teaching new information. We have to be very clear in our plans not to overload the working memory of our pupils, and attempt to ensure the long term memory is doing a lot of the work. Below are some simple steps to avoid cognitive overload in the classroom, these are by no means exhaustive, but are a good place to start. 1. Rely on previously learned information and skills that are in the long term memory and build on these rather than starting something completely new, add this new information gradually. 2. Increase the information in the long term memory by regularly using retrieval practice techniques.

3. Limit the amount of information being input at one time - this can be done by reducing the scope of the learning objective in the lesson, and even further by breaking the learning objective down into smaller manageable chunks and introducing these one at a time. If using PowerPoints/Slides then these 'chunks' should be on different slides. Should you need to refer back to information in the slides to complete the independent tasks, then this can be displayed side by side on a final slide after the information has been taught previously. 4. Use multiple worked examples to demonstrate the new technique or skill initially until the class are confident with the technique. Only move onto independent tasks once the worked examples have been showed and understood. Be sure to check for understanding before moving onto independent tasks and focus on clearing up any misunderstandings first as well. 5. Removing information that is not essential - ensure the learning is the focus of the lesson rather than going on tangents or having too much detail on diagrams. In terms of your slides, if you use them, reduce the content to the bare core information. Interestingly, in a recent observation I received some feedback from a colleague that I could consider reducing the size of the title in my slides and increase the size of the information I was relying on in order to focus the attention of the pupils on the most important part - the information, rather than the title. This is an example of a simple change that could be made to focus attention and remove (or reduce) non essential information.

6. Focus on the learning rather than how fun the activity is (at first). There is a huge pressure on teachers to make learning fun, and I agree it should be, but I don't believe we would be doing our jobs correctly if we just have fun at the expense of learning. Many of us, I am sure, have been guilty of creating very engaging and fun activities that take up so much cognitive load for the pupils to understand the rules of, or so much cognitive load to develop the motor skills involved during, that the actual learning objective of the lesson can be completely by-passed. Keeping the work simple, repetitive and following a worked example supports the learning and the benefits of this are backed up by cognitive science. The time for the fun activities is once the learning is stored in the long term memory. The activity can then form part of a retrieval activity, so while the working memory of our pupils is focused on understanding the games and ensuring the bodily coordination is up to the task, the long term memory can do more of the heavy lifting in the information processing department. I am aware that much of point 6, and Cognitive Load Theory in general, may seem to oppose modern enquiry based approaches to teaching. It certainly goes against techniques I encountered as good practice in my training. Although the methodology of Cognitive Load Theory and enquiry based teaching do not seem to work too well together - see this great post on education rickshaw for more detail - I personally don't see why elements of cognitive load theory cannot be used when using an enquiry based pedagogy. For example, if children are being asked to discover information for themselves, then this should be in a format they are familiar with so that the learning is the focus rather than the skill of finding out (unless of course the skill of finding out is the main focus of the lesson). The material provided to research can also have reduced content in order to focus on the most important aspects. In addition, the question that is forming the basis of the enquiry could follow on from previously learned material and potentially be broken down into a series of smaller questions. It will never be a perfect union between the two, but there seem to be some benefits of applying cognitive load theory to an enquiry based pedagogy as well as an instructional one. If engaging games are being used these either need to be ones that the pupils already know how to play so that the focus can be the learning, or that the games are used following multiple lessons inputting and retrieving the information so that the working memory can focus on understanding the game, without hindering learning. As an extra note on technology, and I am a big fan of appropriately integrating technology in the classroom; it's important that we don't use all the working memory to teach our pupils how to use a new tech gadget if that means the focus of the learning is the technology rather than the associated learning objective. A separate ICT lesson on how to use the technology could help solve this before the technology is used in a new way in another subject area. Also, relying on 4 or 5 methods of using technology that the class are trained on means you can offer variety without overburdening the cognitive load when using them. As a general rule if I am introducing new technology I ask myself if I am using it because it is the only tool that can benefit my class, or just because I want to try something new. If it's just for the sake of something new, then 9 times out of 10 I am probably better off using technology the class already know. This has been a very brief overview of Cognitive Load Theory, but if it has sparked your interest to know more then I would recommend taking a deeper dive into these excellent publications by the New South Wales Government. If you are experienced at applying Cognitive Load Theory, then I would certainly appreciate any tips or feedback as I am still in the process of fully embedding it in my practice. If you have enjoyed reading this then please do consider using the links to like my Facebook page, use your e-mail address to subscribe to the blog, follow me on twitter or simply comment 'thanks' below. Thanks for reading, Laurence