To enable students to learn effectively, it is valuable to keep the cognitive load as low as possible. In other words, you mainly want to increase the relevant load and reduce the unnecessary load, while keeping the intrinsic load under control. A model that can support this is the Load Reduction Instruction (Martin, 2016; Martin & Evans, 2018). In this model, five factors are highlighted that can help reduce cognitive load: difficulty reduction, support and scaffolding, practice, feedback, and guided independence. Difficulty Reduction New information can be complex, especially if you have little prior knowledge about it. By making new information easier, you can link it to prior knowledge more quickly and organize and integrate it more easily into your long-term memory. You can reduce the difficulty, for example, by breaking down complex tasks into small steps, showing worked examples, or providing didactic tips. Support and Scaffolding When learning something new, it is beneficial for your cognitive load and thus valuable to receive sufficient support, such as instruction and examples. This support, also known as scaffolding, can be gradually reduced during the learning process, thereby increasing independence (read more about scaffolding here). You can do this, for example, by first showing an instruction with examples, then having groups work on it, and finally having them work on it independently. According to Martin (2016), all of this is separate from the discussion of whether you should start with instruction or with a question: this depends on the target group you are dealing with. Practice ‘Practice makes perfect’ is the saying. Information that enters our working memory must be well processed before it becomes knowledge. Hearing a story once does not mean it has been processed. Only through active processing and regular repetition are the connections between neurons strengthened and is the information converted into knowledge. If we want students to internalize new material, it is therefore important to provide sufficient opportunities to practice. You can do this, for example, by offering activating assignments and having them regularly repeat these actively. Feedback Feedback is one of the most important factors in a good learning process. Why does it specifically work for reducing cognitive load? Martin and Evans (2018) provide three reasons for this: feedback helps to apply good learning strategies, strengthens motivation, and ensures that you learn the right things and do not unnecessarily store incorrect information. Not all feedback is effective. Want to know what works? Then check out this poster with 10 tips for effective feedback, listen to this podcast about effective feedback, or this one about feedback to large groups. It is also valuable to delve into feedback literacy. You can read more about feedback here. Guided Independence If you want to learn new things, it is important that you can eventually manage them independently. This is not only to confirm that you master something independently, but also because 'experts' benefit from working more independently with the learning material; overly basic instruction causes unnecessary load (extraneous load) for them. That independence does require sufficient guidance. As Patrick Sins also writes (2023): you cannot learn self-regulated learning in a self-regulated way. Self-regulated learning is a cyclical process. Be careful not to offer too much autonomy too quickly, as this can cause choice stress and thus cognitive overload.
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Martin, A.J., & Evans, P. (2018) The Load Reduction Instruction Scale. Sydney: School of Education, University of New South Wales.
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