To be frank, I give very little weight to cognitive load theory. It is based on the premise that learning consists of pushing information through a very small opening, called 'working memory', and ultimately into a much larger store, called 'long term memory'. The size of the working memory is the 'cognitive load' a person can bear. Now there is a strict sense in which this is true: each eye, for example, is limited by an input capacity of about a million retinal cells through the optic nerve. But the 'cognitive load' described by Sweller has nothing to do with this physical limit; it is an entirely theoretical cognitive construct, based on psychological concepts like 'attention' and 'distraction', and leading to a pedagogy based on worked examples, predetermined goals, and task reduction. In other words, direct instruction. As an explanation of observed effects, I think cognitive load theory leaves much to be desired, and broader explanations allow for broader approaches to learning, with outcomes that go beyond mere remembering, such as concept-formation, understanding, and transference.
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