Our working memory (WM) is where learning happens, according to many theories. However, our WM can only hold 7 ± 2 “chunks” of information. What happens when stuff takes up too much space for our WMs to hold?  Cognitive Load Theory says there are 3 sources of “cognitive load” that take up WM space: extraneous (stuff that isn’t currently important), intrinsic (the things we are learning), and germane (the processes we use to learn). The goal for instructors, then, is to do what we can to decrease extraneous load and make intrinsic load efficient. Below are a few tips that are supported by research:

Avoid too much elaboration in favor of concise information delivery Avoid redundancy Limit distractions Increase learners’ familiarity with some concepts by pre-teaching them. They then have some background knowledge to attach new information to, which increases efficiency. Permit learners to process and digest smaller chunks of new information at a time. With attention to how much we are asking our learners to process at once, we may be able to help them learn new material more efficiently!

Plass, J. L., Moreno, R., & Brünken, R. (Eds.). (2010). Cognitive load theory . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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