# Cognitive load

> The amount of mental effort required to hold and work with information at one time.

## What it means

Cognitive load theory from education, with an Australian reference: the NSW Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation review ‘Cognitive load theory: Research that teachers really need to understand’ (2017, education.nsw.gov.au) — g. on working memory’s limits), and Two practical halves: for teachers, worked examples and reducing split attention; for work, writing down what you are holding instead of keeping it in mind.

## A practical example

A learner must remember a formula, find a value and switch between two pages; placing them together removes one demand.

## Put it into practice

- Name the concrete situation before applying the label. Cognitive load is useful only when it changes a choice, boundary or next action.
- Make the state visible: write the owner, time, source or stopping condition down instead of relying on memory.
- Review what happened. Keep the part that reduced ambiguity and change the part that added ceremony without helping the work.

## How it relates to Plexii

: keeping a task’s materials together means fewer things to remember; no claims of measured effect. Link /templates/unit-plan and /templates/revision-timetable.

## Sources

- [NSW Department of Education: Cognitive load theory review](https://education.nsw.gov.au/about-us/education-data-and-research/cese/publications/literature-reviews/cognitive-load-theory)