Paul Ayres's research while affiliated with UNSW Sydney and other places
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Publications (89)
Background:
Research indicates that animations presenting procedural instructions lead to better learning if the animation displays the procedural task from a first-person perspective (over-the-shoulder) compared to a third-person perspective (face-to-face).
Aims:
This study extends view-perspective research by investigating whether the observat...
A sample of 33 experiments was extracted from the Web-of-Science database over a 5-year period (2016–2020) that used physiological measures to measure intrinsic cognitive load. Only studies that required participants to solve tasks of varying complexities using a within-subjects design were included. The sample identified a number of different phys...
This article discusses the findings from a collection of six studies linked together by the common theme of cognitive load theory and published in Computers in Human Behavior. A number of familiar cognitive load conditions and effects are investigated in computer-based environments, namely worked examples, split-attention, and the expertise reversa...
This study, generated from considerations of embodied cognition, observational learning, and cognitive load theory, investigated the effect of mimicking gestures on learning to play piano tasks. Fifty university students from an Australian University, with two different levels of piano-playing experience, were randomly assigned to one of the two di...
This study investigated the effectiveness of using a sequence of worked examples as part of the feedback cycle. Worked examples were either presented as full worked examples or partial worked examples (single-step and completion formats). In two experiments, grade 8 students completed a learning phase on a mathematics topic, which was immediately f...
There are basically two formats used in instructional visualizations, namely, static pictures and dynamic visualizations (e.g., animations and videos). Both can be engaging and fun for university students in the fields of health and natural sciences. However, engagement by itself is not always conducive to learning. Consequently, teachers, lecturer...
Research suggests that many educational phenomena depend on visuospatial processing, including science learning, multimedia interactions, visualizations, gesturing, and object manipulations. However, little is known about what specific abilities rely on visuospatial processing in any given learning scenario, including those about health and natural...
Research shows that animations yield higher learning outcomes than static graphics when learning hand-manipulative tasks such as knot tying. This study investigated whether this superiority of animations is related to observation of the hands in the visualizations. Additionally, it was investigated whether participants' spatial ability influences l...
Studies comparing the instructional effectiveness of dynamic versus static visualizations have produced mixed results. In this work, we investigated whether gender imbalance in the participant samples of these studies may have contributed to the mixed results. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized experiments in which groups of students learni...
Adaptive tutorials enable engaged, personalised and interactive online learning that includes instant adaptive feedback. By integrating an adaptive tutorial into a large and diverse engineering mathematics course, we explored its potential to support and guide students’ learning from afar. The aim of this study was to assess whether students provid...
Cognitive load theory was used to hypothesize that the effectiveness of collaborative learning is moderated by the completeness of the prerequisite knowledge bases of group members. It was predicted that when group members have gaps in their knowledge base that can be filled by other group members, collaborative is superior to individual learning....
Performance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines can depend on the sub-abilities of spatial ability and visuospatial working memory. According to the STEM task, certain sub-abilities may be more important than others in predicting achievement. Similarly, some individual characteristics (e.g., gender) moderate some...
A worked example is a form of explicit instruction that provides a detailed solution to a problem. Solutions can consist of, for example, step-by-step answers to mathematics questions or a model answer to an essay question. Cognitive load theory has been used to hypothesize that when novice students first learn complex areas that impose a heavy wor...
Instructional animation research has been extensive but the results are inconsistent. Amongst a number of possible factors to explain these inconclusive results (e.g., the negative influence of transient information), the influence of spatial ability and gender are less explored. This paper reports three experiments that compared the effectiveness...
Instructional dynamic pictures (animations and videos) contain transient visual information. Consequently, when learning from dynamic pictures, students must process in working memory the current images while trying to remember the images that left the screen. This additional activity in working memory may lead dynamic pictures to be less suitable...
Two experiments involving 125 grade-10 students learning about commerce investigated strategies to overcome the transient information effect caused by explanatory spoken text. The transient information effect occurs when learning is reduced as a result of information disappearing before the learner has time to adequately process it, or link it with...
Worked examples and collaborative learning have both been shown to facilitate learning. However, the testing of both strategies almost exclusively has been conducted independently of each other. The main aim of the current study was to examine interactions between these 2 strategies. Two experiments (N = 182 and N = 122) were conducted with Grade-7...
An embodied cognition perspective recognizes that the evolution of the human mind has been shaped by the evolution of the species’ whole body in its interaction with the environment. For example, hand actions—such as object manipulations and gestures—have been fundamental for human survival, and thus they continue to trigger different areas of the...
Statement:
Simulation-based education (SBE) has emerged as an effective and important tool for medical educators, but research about how to optimize training with simulators is in its infancy. It is often difficult to generalize results from experiments on instructional design issues in simulation because of the heterogeneity of learner groups, te...
This article reviews the research into multimedia learning through the lens of a recently updated Handbook of Multimedia Learning edited by Richard Mayer. By examining the theories underpinning the research and the major experimental findings, a number of conclusions emerged. Firstly, the major theories and models guiding the research are well acce...
Humans have an evolved embodied cognition that equips them to deal easily with the natural movements of object manipulations. Hence, learning a manipulative task is generally more effective when watching animations that show natural motions of the task, rather than equivalent static pictures. The present study was completed to explore this research...
Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals with persistent pain would respond to instructional materials designed to promote the modality and redundancy effects. It was predicted that persistent pain would reduce the positive impact of narrated text due to reduced working memory capacity. One hundred thirty-seven full-time teache...
Cognitive load theory was used to hypothesize that a general problem-solving strategy based on a make-as-many-moves-as-possible heuristic could facilitate problem solutions for transfer problems. In four experiments, school students were required to learn about a topic through practice with a general problem-solving strategy, through a conventional...
According to cognitive load theory (CLT), the limitations of working memory (WM) in the learning of new tasks together with its ability to cooperate with an unlimited long-term memory (LTM) for familiar tasks enable human beings to deal effectively with complex problems and acquire highly complex knowledge and skills. With regard to WM, CLT has foc...
Due to their popularity, dynamic visualisations (e.g. video, animation) seem attractive educational resources. However, in the design of any instructional material, not only must the appealing factor be acknowledged, but also the cognitive limitations. To consider the limitations of human cognitive architecture when designing instructional resource...
This study investigated whether the effectiveness of learning a hand-motor task through an instructional animation required observation of the hands or not. Cognitive load theory was used to predict that both animated conditions (with and without hands) would be equally effective, and that both animations would be superior to an equivalent static g...
The study reviewed the evidence that persistent pain has the capacity to interrupt and consume working memory resources. It was argued that individuals with persistent pain essentially operate within a compromised neurocognitive paradigm of limited working memory resources that impairs task performance. Using cognitive load theory as a theoretical...
Reducing problem complexity by isolating elements has been shown to be an effective instructional strategy. Novices, in particular, benefit from learning from worked examples that contain partially interacting elements rather than worked examples that provide full interacting elements. This study investigated whether the isolating-elements strategy...
It is argued that some general problem-solving strategies are a form of biologically primary knowledge (Geary, 2012) in that humans have acquired them over many generations and use them to solve novel problems. On the basis of this classification, cognitive load theory was used to predict that under certain conditions, novice learners could be taug...
The transient information effect occurs when explanatory information disappears before it can be adequately processed and leads to inferior learning than more permanent sources of information. Two experiments, involving grade 10 students, investigated the impact of segmentation on a common form of transient information (spoken text) and a more perm...
This special issue on cognitive load theory is a collection of eight papers that report either on contemporary challenges to the theory that may lead to new research directions or on new research directions that pose new challenges to the theory. The contemporary challenges relate to the timing and frequency of cognitive load measurement, the desig...
This study investigated the consequences of simultaneously reading and listening to the same materials when learning English as a foreign language. During acquisition, native Arabic-speaking university students were asked to learn some English words and sentences either by reading them or by simultaneously reading and listening to the same spoken m...
According to the expertise reversal effect described in Chapter 12, instructional designs and techniques that are relatively
effective for novice learners can lose their effectiveness and even have negative consequences with increasing levels of expertise.
As a result, instructional methods including the amount of instructional guidance provided to...
A worked example provides a step-by-step solution to a problem. The following is an example from algebra: Make a the subject of the equation,
(a+b)/\text\textc=d (a+b)/\text{}\text{\hspace{0.05em}}c=d
The goal-free effect was the first instructional effect investigated within a cognitive load theory framework. Goal-free problems occur when a conventional problem with a specific goal is replaced by a problem with a non-specific goal. For example, in high school geometry, a typical problem will ask students to calculate a specific angle, such as...
The first step that we need to make in considering the manner in which human cognition is organised is to categorise knowledge.
Different categories of knowledge may be acquired, organised and stored in different ways and require different instructional
procedures. Understanding how we deal with different categories of knowledge is a requirement in...
Cognitive load theory differs from many instructional theories in several respects. First, the theory places a heavy reliance
on the cognitive implications of biological evolution. As indicated in Part I, it divides knowledge into biologically primary
and biologically secondary knowledge. Biologically secondary knowledge is a new, culturally import...
The split-attention effect arose from the worked example effect following the discovery that worked examples with a particular
format were relatively ineffective (Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988). Worked examples are valuable because they reduce extraneous
cognitive load compared to solving the equivalent problems but, of course, it is unlikely that all wo...
The previous chapters indicated that when dealing with biologically secondary information, human cognition requires a very
large information store in order to function. Long-term memory constitutes that store. The bulk of the information held in
long-term memory is acquired by borrowing information from other people’s long-term memories with smalle...
How do natural information processing systems acquire information? The information store principle discussed in Chapter2 indicates
that in order to function in a complex environment, natural systems require a massive store of information that can guide
activity. The manner in which that information is acquired is of immediate interest to anyone con...
Natural environments tend to be both highly complex and highly variable. The frequently immeasurable number of variables associated
with natural environments tends to be in constant flux. Most animals and plants must survive in complex, variable environments
dealing with day and night, summer and winter, drought and flood. Any natural information p...
As discussed in Chapter 5, total cognitive load, consisting of intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load, must not exceed working
memory resources in order for learning to be effective. From this perspective, applying learning strategies aimed at reducing
extraneous cognitive load is more important when intrinsic cognitive load is high. If intrinsic...
According to the expertise reversal effect (Chapter 12) during the initial phases of skill acquisition, worked examples (Chapter
8) represent an efficient form of instruction, while problem-solving practice is superior during later phases of skill acquisition.
This reversal suggests that as levels of expertise increase, levels of instructional guid...
When new information is presented to learners, it must be processed in a severely limited working memory. Learning reduces working memory limitations by enabling the use of schemas, stored in long-term memory, to process information more efficiently. Several instructional techniques have been designed to facilitate schema construction and automatio...
Because of the centrality of working memory load to cognitive load theory, measuring this load has been a high priority for
researchers. While it is possible to demonstrate support for the validity of the theory by predicting experimental outcomes,
it is useful to additionally provide independent measures of cognitive load. In this chapter we descr...
The redundancy effect may appear on the surface to be related to the split-attention effect but in fact is quite unrelated. There are similarities because both effects deal with multiple sources of information such as visuals and text. As is the case for the split-attention effect, any combination of diagrams, pictures, animations and spoken or wr...
The cognitive load effects previously described in this book are well established with significant supporting evidence collected
across a number of studies and research groups. To complete our description of the various effects, we include two new effects
in this chapter. Although their supporting research bases are in their infancy, there is mount...
Learners must process instructional information in working memory. The load imposed on working memory by that instructional
information can be divided into categories depending on its function (Paas, Renkl, & Sweller, 2003, 2004; Sweller, van Merriënboer,
& Paas, 1998; van Merriënboer & Sweller, 2005). Some of the working memory load is imposed by...
As described in Chapter 15, the concept of element interactivity provides a theoretical construct underpinning understanding
and learning. Instructional material that is low in element interactivity and consequently low in intrinsic cognitive load
requires few working memory resources, because the constituent elements do not interact and can be un...
This paper reviews the 16 contributions of the special issue entitled Current Research in Cognitive Load Theory. Each paper is briefly summarized and some critical comments made. The overall collection is then discussed in terms of the positive contributions they make to the field of learning and instruction, and cognitive load theory in particular...
This study compared the effects of two collaborative learning strategies (Open-ended and Task-based) with an individualized learning strategy on individual learning in a computer-based environment. The experiment sought ecological validity by conducting it under real teaching and homework conditions. Ninety-four students from grade 9 participated i...
Cognitive Load Theory
John Sweller, Paul Ayres, Slava Kalyuga
Effective instructional design depends on the close study of human cognitive architecture—the processes and structures that allow people to acquire and use knowledge. Without this background, we might recognize that a teaching strategy is successful, but have no understanding as to why...
This study compared the effects of worked example and problem‐solving approaches in individual or group work settings on learning to solve geometry problems. One hundred and one seventh graders from Indonesia were randomly allocated to four experimental groups using a 2 (problem‐solving vs. worked examples) × 2 (individual vs. group study) design....
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to study teachers' self‐efficacy and occupational stress in the context of a large‐scale curriculum reform in New South Wales, Australia. The study aims to follow up and replicate a study carried out approximately one year earlier.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework, primarily based on soci...
This special issue consists of six theoretical papers and an introduction. Each paper describes a current advance to the applications
and focus of cognitive load theory (CLT). Four of the papers use an interdisciplinary approach outside of educational psychology
by combining CLT with elements of evolutionary biology, mirror neuron research, cogniti...
Ayres, P., & Van Gog, T. (2009). Editorial: State of the art research into Cognitive Load Theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 25, 253-257.
Cognitive load theory was used to argue why instructional animations are more effective in teaching human motor skills than static representations. A key aspect to this argument is the role played by the transitory nature of animation and the newly discovered human mirror-neuron system. In two experiments students were taught to tie knots or comple...
Based on the assumption of a working memory processor devoted to human movement, cognitive load theory is used to explore some conditions under which animated instructions are hypothesised to be more effective for learning than equivalent static graphics. Using paper-folding tasks dealing with human movement, results from three experiments confirme...
The presentation of several sources of information through different sensory modalities in multimedia environments has great potential for promoting meaningful learning. However, multimedia learning sometimes fails to live up to its full potential, because high cognitive loads are often generated, pri-12 F. paaS, p. aYreS, and M. paChMan
Learning by observing and imitating others has long been recognized as constituting a powerful learning strategy for humans.
Recent findings from neuroscience research, more specifically on the mirror neuron system, begin to provide insight into the
neural bases of learning by observation and imitation. These findings are discussed here, along with...
In this contribution we argue that challenges of contemporary education require new forms of collaboration and communication across disciplines. Interdisciplinary perspectives are needed to enable us to make truly original and useful contributions to cognitive load theory and practice. Using cognitive load theory as an example, I will show that the...
This study investigated the cognitive load theory prediction that the inconsistent findings concerning the effectiveness of instructional animations are exacerbated by their transitory nature. Three groups were compared who received different but equivalent forms of instruction in learning a topic in economics. One group received an animation prese...
When students learn how a physical system works, does it help if they also learn how similar systems work? Some college students (concise group) studied a multimedia lesson that explained how hydraulic brakes work, consisting of narrated animation or annotated illustrations. Others (expanded group) received the same lesson along with multimedia exp...
This themed issue consists of seven empirical papers, as well as an introduction and discussion, and has its genesis in three symposia, organised by the authors of this article and presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in San Francisco, California. The papers investigate a number of conditions...
The papers in this themed issue have investigated methods to make animations more effective. The purpose of this paper is to discuss each of the seven empirical papers. The discussion focuses on how they dealt with cognitive load during instruction and problem solving. Critical observations are made on each paper and avenues for future research are...
Cognitive load theorists have frequently used subjective measures of cognitive load to test the effectiveness of instructional procedures. This study sought to broaden the applications of subjective measures by testing their ability to detect variations in intrinsic cognitive load within tasks. In two experiments students were asked to complete alg...
This paper examines the effectiveness of instructional strategies that lower cognitive load by reducing task complexity (intrinsic cognitive load). Three groups of 13-year-old students were required to learn a mathematical task under different conditions. One group (Isolated) followed a strategy that used part-tasks where the constituent elements w...
Purpose
The main research aim was to investigate relationships among teachers' occupational stress, coping, teacher self‐efficacy and relevant teachers' perceptions of curriculum changes in a major educational reform.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical framework that included the attribution of responsibility for stress model, aspects of so...
This introduction to the special issue provides a context for the contributing articles. for readers who are not familiar
with cognitive load theory (CLT), it provides a very brief description of assumptions regarding memory systems and learning
processes, different types of cognitive load (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane), and design implicatio...
The conditions under which explicit instruction in checking, combined with worked examples, may be beneficial in learning how to translate sentences into algebraic equations was examined from the perspective of cognitive load theory. In two experiments it was shown that Grade 8 and 9 students were initially disadvantaged by the inclusion of a check...
According to cognitive load theory, instruction needs to be designed in a manner that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge
in long-term memory while reducing unnecessary demands on working memory. When technology is used to deliver instruction,
the sequence in which students learn to use the technology and learn the relevant subject matter may...
This study identified effective teachers of high-achieving Grade 12 students in New South Wales, Australia. Nineteen teachers, across a variety of curriculum areas, were observed teaching and then interviewed. A further six teachers were interviewed only. Despite the high-stakes end-of-schooling examination, generating interest in and understanding...
The hypothesis that the intrinsic nature of algebraic bracket tasks causes an uneven distribution of cognitive load during computation was tested in three experiments with grades 8 and 9 students. In Experiment 1, students were given problems which required two successive brackets to be expanded; each bracket required two operations (computations)...
This report presents information from a study of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in New South Wales, Australia. The study investigated teaching strategies that led to success at the HSC. Researchers identified successful teachers, observed them teaching an HSC class, and followed up with an interview. Groups of ex-students also completed interv...
Previous studies have suggested that the use of a means-ends problem-solving strategy imposes a heavy cognitive load which interferes with learning. In this article, we discuss some of the contributing factors. A computational model was used to suggest that cognitive load is at a maximum when subgoals are manipulated and calculated. This allowed us...
This paper reports on teachers' perceptions of major curriculum reform in New South Wales at the Higher School Certificate. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented. Measures of teacher self-efficacy and stress related to the innovation, as well as general perceptions of the implementation are reported. Mathematics teachers' views of the cur...
Citations
... Tao et al (2019) included 91 studies in their analysis of 78 physiological measures. Ayres et al (2021) conducted a review of 33 experimental studies that used physiological measures. In both studies, the authors found that when the complexity of tasks was varied most measures could detect some level of difference in mental workload, but overall, the measures were not universally valid for all tasks. ...
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... Measuring cognitive load using self-report questionnaires requires that the learner is able to self-assess their cognitive load, so that erroneous assignment on perceived load to either ICL, ECL, and GCL cannot be ruled out (Ayres, 2020;Inan et al., 2015). However, 90% of the sample consisted of students who are quite capable of metacognitively assessing their cognitive load (Klepsch et al., 2017). ...
... An interactive animation can potentially facilitate learning software based on embodied cognition effects that emphasize the role of the entire body including the motor system, to achieve cognitive skills and the use of actions to support educational goals (Weisberg, & Newcombe, 2017). The efficiency of designing the curriculum and teaching methods based on embodied cognition theory has been indicated in many different curriculum areas such as language and translation (Glenberg, Witt & Metcalfe, 2013;Zhu, 2018), foreign language writing (Lajevardi, Narang, Marcus & Ayres, 2017), mathematics (Gerofsky, 2011;Nathan & Walkington, 2017;Radford, 2009;Zudini & Zuccheri, 2016), science (Enyedy et al., 2012;Kontra et al., 2015), music and sports (Schiavio, et al., 2019;Mierowsky, Marcus & Ayres, 2020), geosciences (Herrera & Riggs, 2013), testing children as well as adults (Chandler & Tricot, 2015). In all the above studies, cognitive tasks were integrated with physical activities including interacting with the learning objects, gesturing, moving, sketching, or mapping to enhance learning. ...
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... Analyzing multiple worked examples is also helpful (Rittle- Johnson & Star, 2011;Star & Rittle-Johnson, 2009); for example, Star and Rittle-Johnson (2009) found that students who compared multiple solution strategies for estimating answers to multiplication problems (a partly familiar topic), versus analyzing them one at a time, became more flexible at evaluating and using different strategies. Furthermore, studying a series of worked examples can help students make sense of their errors, as was found with eighth graders solving linear equations (Manson & Ayres, 2021). Likewise, presenting students with a series of incorrect worked examples that challenge a particular measurement conception would allow us to better understand their prior knowledge, strength and consistency of their conceptions, and potential conflict resolution. ...
... This is in line with the findings from other disciplines, in fact, there are well-established links between visuospatial task complexity and cognitive load. In studies that focus on measuring working memory capacity or cognitive load, it has been shown that split attention (i.e., dual-task scenarios), and the complexity of the phenomena (e.g., words, routes, shapes) impair recall performance [28][29][30]. ...
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... Participants were also asked to rate these three questions related to the post-test. Participants' working memory capacity was measured by the online symmetry pattern task of VAR developed by Castro-Alonso et al. (2019). Dual tasks were employed: a memory task was interrupted by a processing task. ...
... In particular, animations are most useful for human movement related tasks (Van Gog et al., 2009). For example, the efficiency of animation is demonstrated in learning how to tie knots, use Lego to build different shapes, make origami shapes, and learning surgical skills (Ayres et al., 2009;Castro-Alonso et al., 2015;De Koning et al., 2019;Marcus et al., 2013;Masters et al., 2008). Therefore, one of the important factors that can affect the efficiency of animation in teaching software applications is the type of software and the content that is taught to the learners. ...
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... Perceptual and Motor Skills 0(0) examined, others, such as visuospatial abilities (VSA), are often overlooked (Castro-Alonso et al., 2019). ...
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... The participants' feedback has provided additional source of information supporting instructional designers to consider and improve the use of transitory information. Hence, where possible, animations should be constructed in a way that can lower cognitive load (Ayres et al. 2019). There are also implications for researchers on using instructional animation as the open-ended comments served as an additional source of information for them to identify major animated elements for effective learning (Ayres et al. 2019). ...
... Within an animation, pictorial frames are artificially strung together, so that learners perceive a continuous movement over time ( [5,6]). Hereby, animations help learners to build up a mental model of the learning content, whereby in static media, transitions between pictures must be filled by the learner causing cognitive resources ( [7]). In this vein, animations are characterized by two important featurestheir visuospatial and spatiotemporal organization (e.g. ...
