Mr Paul is teaching a lesson on BODMAS* (order of operations in mathematics). He
begins the class by asking if any student has heard of the acronym BODMAS before.
He observes the class and notes that no student has put their hand up to indicate they
are familiar with the term. He projects a problem onto a slide on the board. The problem
has all the steps needed to complete a similar problem clearly marked.
How has Mr Paul demonstrated or not demonstrated knowledge of the key principles of
human cognitive architecture and cognitive load theory? Draw on your knowledge of
schemas, prior knowledge, and cognitive load theory effects to answer the question.
Marks for the short answer are assigned based on:
Understanding of the key concepts
Depth of analysis
Reference to research literature or sources, where relevant (Note: Only
parenthetical references, not full reference details, are required here).
Structure and organisation of the response
Mr Paul does not show an understanding of the key principles of human cognitive
architecture but does demonstrate some understanding of the cognitive load theory.
Despite assessing the student's prior knowledge of the topic and realising the students
have no prior knowledge, he still attempts to create a schema by writing a similar
problem with a worked solution. While this utilises the worked example effect which
reduces the cognitive load of the subject, it still relies on the student's prior knowledge
as a foundation of their understanding to process and interpret future information. The
use of the schema with a lack of prior knowledge creates a lack of understanding from
the students.
Prior knowledge refers to an individual's existing knowledge about a specific topic. Mr
Paul utilises prior knowledge by asking the class if the students have heard of the
acronym BODMAS before. This correlates with the human cognitive architecture as Mr
Paul attempts to recall explicit memories from the students' long-term memory to assess
how they may interpret future information (Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968). The use of prior
knowledge shows an understanding of the cognitive load theory as a strong grasp of the
concept would help reduce the extraneous cognitive load.
Schemas are mental structures that can allow students to make predictions based on
prior knowledge. When Mr Paul writes a similar problem to the original but with a
worked solution, he essentially creates a schema. Ordinarily, students can see the
similarities in the problems and consequently, the solutions. This is an important aspect
of human cognitive architecture as schemas provide a way for the students to organise
and interpret the information; however, without a foundation of prior knowledge, the use
of the schema becomes negligible. However, this does demonstrate an understanding
of the cognitive load theory as it would reduce the extraneous cognitive load and
increase germane cognitive processing. The use of a similar problem with a detailed
solution is also a worked example effect. This is a cognitive load theory effect which
would further reduce the extraneous cognitive load (Sweller et al, 2012).
As such, Mr Paul's teaching shows a mixed understanding of the cognitive architecture
principles and the cognitive load theory. Despite using prior knowledge correctly, he
incorrectly incorporates a schema which creates a lack of understanding. The solution
would be to clarify the students' understanding of BODMAS before using worked
solutions.