Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1998). Levels of expertise and instructional design. Human Factors, 40(1), 1-17.

Kalyuga, S.; Chandler, P.; Sweller, J.

1998

Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1998). Levels of expertise and instructional design. Human Factors, 40(1), 1-17.

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Cognitive load theory assumes that information should be structured to eliminate any avoidable load on working memory in order to enhance learning. The authors hypothesized that the appropriate type of structure may depend on the learner's level of expertise. Less expert learners using a diagram might require the diagram to be physically integrated with related text-based information in order to reduce cognitive load. However, the same diagram might be intelligible in isolation by more experienced learners, who might require the elimination of redundant text to reduce cognitive load. The results of 3 experiments with 33 1st-year trade apprentices and trainees indicated that as level of expertise increased, the best instructional designs changed from ones in which diagrams and text were physically integrated to ones in which the text was eliminated.

Physically integrating textual explanations with circuit diagrams might have forced experienced trainees to process unnecessary or redundant text, given that the diagrams were likely to be self-explanatory for these trainees. Learners in the diagram-only group not only required far less time to process their instructional materials, they also outperformed the integrated-text-and-diagram gourp in the fault-finding tasks as well as in the circuit operation and function questions. Also, subjective ratings indicated that a diagram-only format imposed a lower mental load than an integrated format, suggesting that for these trainees assimilating the text if an integrating format imposed relatively heavy extraneous load.

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