Design Of Task-Driven Instruction Strategy For Junior High School Information Science And Technology Course From The Perspective Of External Cognitive Load

In the process of reform of information science and technology course in junior high school,instruction mode and methods have always been highly valued.Among them,task-driven instruction method has gained much concern for its role in boosting the learning interest of students and fostering their practical skills.Nevertheless,it has been revealed through literature research and teacher interviews that task-driven instruction of information science and technology course in junior high school suffers from issues such as universal task design,unreasonable context creation,and improper classroom instruction organization,all of which have resulted in high external cognitive load on students,while affecting their participation in classroom learning.In this regard,it has in turn led to poor competence of students in task analysis,problem solving,and cooperative communication,during which the task-driven instruction method has failed to be implemented in an effective manner.In view of the above issues,on the basis of the cognitive load theory and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning,the elements of task-driven instruction strategy were identified by summing up the principles of alleviating external cognitive load,while the framework of task-driven instruction strategy was presented.With this framework,in this study,the strategies of closed task instruction strategy with teacher’s guidance and the open task instruction with teacher-student cooperation have been designed and carried out via two rounds of implementation and continuous improvement with the content of “Access and Use of Internet Information”,and the effectiveness of the strategies was examined through questionnaires,classroom observations and interviews by means of quasi-experimental method and action research method.The results shows that implementation of task-driven instruction of information science and technology course in junior high school in accordance with the strategies designed in this study exerted a significant effect on alleviating the external cognitive load of students,facilitating their participation in classroom learning,as well as fostering their competence in task analysis,problem solving,cooperative communication,and independent exploration.Accordingly,this study summarizes the components of task-driven instruction strategies for junior high school information science and technology course from the perspective of external cognitive load and the general process of the strategies.In addition,this study is capable of enriching the theory of information science and technology pedagogy in junior high school,in addition to providing reference for instruction practice of information science and technology course in junior high school under the background of the new curriculum standards.