Episode 167 John Sweller on cognitive load theory

About this episode

Lars interviews John Sweller about cognitive load theory and its implications for education.

I've come to the conclusion that Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know – Dylan Wiliam On this episode Lars speaks with John Sweller, professor emeritus at University of New South Wales in Australia, about the field of cognitive load theory, a research field in educational psychology that John has been developing since the early eighties. We talk about the cognitive architecture, how working memory and long term memory interact, and how this interaction and its limits make out the foundational insight that is explored in cognitive load theory; how our cognition is shaped by evolution, how David Geary's theory about biologically primary and secondary skills helped John put cognitive load theory into a bigger picture; some of the main effect that have been identified, like element interaction effect, worked examples, redundancy, split attention, and much more. Recommended books and articles Ashman, G. (2023). A little guide for teachers: Cognitive load theory . Corwin UK. Carlson, J. S., & Levin, J. R. (2007). Educating the evolved mind : conceptual foundations for an evolutionary educational psychology . Information Age Pub. Geary…

People in this episode

Hosts: Lars, Pål

Guest: John Sweller

Topics covered

• cognitive load theory
• educational psychology
• working memory
• long term memory
• evolutionary education

Keywords

• cognitive load theory
• working memory
• long term memory
• educational psychology
• evolutionary education
• Dylan Wiliam
• John Sweller

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of New South Wales, Corwin UK, Information Age Pub, Cambridge University Press

Books & works: Educating the evolved mind: conceptual foundations for an evolutionary educational psychology, The evolved mind and modern education: Status of evolutionary educational psychology, A little guide for teachers: Cognitive load theory, An evolutionarily informed education science

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