RiosGPSY5108-1

.docx

School

Northcentral University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

5108

Subject

Psychology

Date

May 5, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by MajorIcePorpoise4 on coursehero.com

1 Cognitive Load Theory a Tool for Restructuring the U.S. Education System Gina A. Rios Department of Psychology, Northcentral University PSY-5108: Cognitive and Affective Basis of Behavior Dr. Mary Streit January 28, 2024

2 Cognitive Load Theory a Tool for Restructuring the U.S. Education System As a parent, ensuring that my children are well provided for is my main priority. Every waking moment is centered around their needs and wants, and at the very top of the ever- growing list of necessities, immediately following the basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing, is to provide them with a well-rounded education. From the moment they were placed into my arms, I began fostering a love of learning and taught them to read by the time they were both three years old. While I have no intention of slowing down with my involvement in their educational growth, I have come to realize that there is something quite unsettling and unnatural about the education system here in the United States of America. Even as I look back at when I was in elementary school, I recognized that the structure of many public and charter schools directly challenges the way children instinctively and characteristically absorb and learn new or “novel” information (Sweller, 2017). Children are hard wired with surplus amounts of energy and constant curiosity, much to the detriment of their over stimulated and exhausted parents, yet when they are thrown into a school setting, they are obligated to maintain a level of rigid focus. Thus, limiting the amount of time to expel stored physical energy that many children are unable to adhere to. This rigidity often leads to some incredibly bright children becoming unfairly labeled as having some form of deficit in their ability to learn by their teachers and school administration and will have parents seeking medical advice for possible behavioral issues (“Why your child’s behavior may not mean ADHD,” 2024), but I propose that their inability to maintain focus in class may have more to do with the cognitive overload and abnormal design of the modern day classroom. Children were never meant to sit for extended hours at a time with subject after subject being force fed each minute of their day. The focus of educating children seems to have become increasingly geared toward standardized testing, straying as far away as

3 possible from nurturing their innate curiosity and ultimately hindering their ability to develop strong critical thinking skills. Skills which are necessary for maintaining a functionally thriving society of problem-solving innovators. This paper aims not only to expound on Sweller’s cognitive load theory, but to also analyze the imaginable benefits and limitations of it in conjunction with how I have come to believe that the implementation of the major components of this theory could potentially improve, if not solve, the issues with the structure of the U.S. educational system. Our learning abilities directly correlate to how well we are able to remember experiences or information that is presented to and accumulated throughout our lives (Eagleman & Montague, 2005). To understand what cognitive load theory is, one must first understand how memories function and are broken down. According to the textbook, Human Biology , memory is obtained through “a set of processes used to encode, store, and retrieve information over different periods of time” (Malquist, & Prescott, n.d., para. 1). Additionally, Professor John Wixted expounds on the understanding of how memory processes operate through his definition of the Atkinson-Shiffrin model in his 2016 video. Wixted states that this model is the process by which an individual experiences and mentally registers sensory events (i.e., what is heard, seen, smelled, touched, and tasted) into separate compartments of the brain to either immediately discard or rehearse and record for long-term use (Wixted, 2016). Essentially, every moment of the day is filled with a plethora of experiences and information, however most of that information is immediately discarded and will not be retained as long-term memories due to being irrelevant for future usage (Wixted, 2016). For example, you walk into a grocery store and while your eyes see all the colors of the clothes passing patrons are wearing, it is only temporarily noted and not stored as the moment you pass them by, you have already forgotten

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Recommended textbooks for you

Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)

Psychology

ISBN:9780134477961

Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White

Publisher:PEARSON

Cognitive Psychology

Psychology

ISBN:9781337408271

Author:Goldstein, E. Bruce.

Publisher:Cengage Learning,

Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and ...

Psychology

ISBN:9781337565691

Author:Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer, Tanya S. Martini

Publisher:Cengage Learning

Psychology in Your Life (Second Edition)

Psychology

ISBN:9780393265156

Author:Sarah Grison, Michael Gazzaniga

Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company

Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research a...

Psychology

ISBN:9781285763880

Author:E. Bruce Goldstein

Publisher:Cengage Learning

Theories of Personality (MindTap Course List)

Psychology

ISBN:9781305652958

Author:Duane P. Schultz, Sydney Ellen Schultz

Publisher:Cengage Learning

SEE MORE TEXTBOOKS

Recommended textbooks for you

Ciccarelli: Psychology_5 (5th Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780134477961
Author:Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White
Publisher:PEARSON
Cognitive Psychology
Psychology
ISBN:9781337408271
Author:Goldstein, E. Bruce.
Publisher:Cengage Learning,
Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and ...
Psychology
ISBN:9781337565691
Author:Dennis Coon, John O. Mitterer, Tanya S. Martini
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Psychology in Your Life (Second Edition)
Psychology
ISBN:9780393265156
Author:Sarah Grison, Michael Gazzaniga
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research a...
Psychology
ISBN:9781285763880
Author:E. Bruce Goldstein
Publisher:Cengage Learning
Theories of Personality (MindTap Course List)
Psychology
ISBN:9781305652958
Author:Duane P. Schultz, Sydney Ellen Schultz
Publisher:Cengage Learning