Teaching Junior High Cognitive Load Theory

Junior high school is a critical period of the development of cognitive thinking. Whenfacing the problem of study difficulty, teachers’ teaching practice that bears no significantfruits has become a hot topic concerning the development of education. Given the limitedcognitive resources in students’ learning process, the cognitive load theory aims atpromoting a reasonable control to cognitive resources so as to avoid the appearance ofirrelevant cognitive load, and bring new educational ideas into teaching practices.Based on the literature review, the author has got a good command of the views aboutcognitive load theory as well as its classification both from home and abroad, and also foundthat research involves in cognitive load theory as the guidance to front-line teaching is quitefew. Therefore, the author integrates those summarized theoretical ideas into practicalteaching. Taking the eighth grade physical education as a case study, the author analyzes thereasons for students’ learning difficulties from the perspective of cognitive load so as to guideteachers to discover different teaching practice forms embodied in cognitive load and find outtheir problems in the teaching process. According to the research results and a survey of actualteaching situation completed by Sweller and Meyer, strategies responsive to a reasonableregulation of cognitive load is to be put forward to reduce students’ intrinsic cognitive load,control extraneous cognitive load and improve related cognitive knowledge to upgradeteaching. A myriad of examples are cited throughout the paper to facilitate teachers’understanding and practical reference.Case study is a test for the specific application of cognitive load theory. The authorprovides two cases concerning individual instruction and classroom teaching in the hopeof analyzing cases from different application perspectives that helps the teachers knowhow to adjust teaching strategies in the face of different teaching groups and how toimprove students’ thinking ability. The author also hopes that this paper will exertrevelatory significance to the teaching of various disciplines, and encourage morescholars to involve in studying this subject.