Page 142 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

8.2 Learning Activity Design 133
when a problem is difficult), materials should be designed to reduce the extraneous
load.
In a word, cognitive load theory provides a general framework and has broad
implications for learning activity design. It allows instructional designers to control
the conditions of learning within an environment or, more generally, within most
instructional materials. The implications for instructional design are clear:

(a) Minimize extrinsic load factors in an instructional situation.
(b) Help new learners focus on that which is essential without generating addi-
tional extrinsic load.

8.2.3.5 Case Study
In the stage of junior high school, the “law of inertia” is a crucial topic in relevant
curriculum. It is hard for students to differentiate the concept that objects possess
natural properties of uniform linear motion and stationary state from the concept of
features that objects have in the inertia.

(1) Intrinsic cognitive load: the law of inertia/Newton’s first law
(2) Extraneous cognitive load: suitable activity design or learning method
(3) Germane cognitive load: Review the relevant laws, or provide different
examples of Newton’s first law.

Design strategy:

(1) Design physical and animation experiment presentation to reduce the intrinsic
cognitive load.
(2) Design a learning activity that recalls the simple phenomenon of daily life,
which resulted from the inertia, for example, when the car starts or brakes
suddenly, passengers will be tilted backward or forward.

8.2.4 Mayer’s Principles of Multimedia Learning

If you are designing resources for learning activities or creating a PowerPoint
presentation for a lecture, developing an online course, preparing to flip a class-
room, you may need to reconsider how you will get students to engage in the
learning materials.
Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning centers on the idea that learners
attempt to build meaningful connections between words and pictures, which they
learn more deeply than they could have with words or pictures alone (Mayer, 2009).
One of the principal aims of multimedia instruction is to encourage the learner to
construct a coherent mental representation of the material. The learner’s job is to