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- Vol 1 RE: Chapters 4, 10, 12, App A, App B
- Vol 2 RE: Chapters 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, App A, App C, App D
- Vol 2 TE: App B
- Vol 4 RE: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 16, 25, App A, App B, App C
- Vol 4 TE: App C
- Vol 5 RE: App B
cognitive architectureworking-memory limitationsintrinsic cognitive loadextraneous cognitive loadworked examplesexpertise reversalguidance fadingBook Evidence summaryAt a glance
Sweller, Ayres, and Kalyuga derive instructional design principles from a cognitive architecture in which biologically secondary knowledge is stored in effectively vast long-term memory but novel information must pass through sharply limited working memory. Cognitive load depends on interacting elements and the learner’s existing schemas.
Key ideas
Intrinsic load reflects task complexity relative to knowledge; extraneous load results from avoidable instructional demands. Learning changes what counts as a single element by building schemas and automating performance. The book reviews effects including worked examples, goal-free problems, completion tasks, split attention, modality, redundancy, imagination, self-explanation, guidance fading, and expertise reversal. A design that helps a novice can become redundant for an expert, so guidance should adapt as knowledge grows.
Why it matters
The theory does not argue for making all learning easy; it argues for directing scarce working-memory resources toward processes that build transferable knowledge rather than toward unnecessary search or poorly coordinated information.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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