An Empirical Study Of Cognitive Load Theory In High School Biology Concept Teaching

The Curriculum Standards of Biology for General High School(2017 edition,2020 revision)emphasizes that the content should focus on big concepts.With the goal of allowing students to deeply understand and apply important biological concepts and to develop the core literacy of biology,it can be seen that teachers must attach importance to concept teaching in senior high school biology teaching.However,in the context of examination-based instruction,in order to improve students’ achievement,many teachers ignore the law of students’ physical and mental development,and engage in "sea of questions tactics" and "cramming teaching".These factors such as improperly handled teaching and learning materials may aggravate students’ cognitive load and affect their physical and mental health development.This situation cannot be ignored and needs to be improved.In response to the demands of new curriculum standards,teachers should update their teaching ideas,modify their teaching thoughts,and seek effective ways to reduce the burden and improve the quality in the context of the new curriculum reforms.Therefore,this study will be based on the cognitive load theory and the current situation of cognitive load in concept teaching of high school biology.And then analyzing the cognitive load factor in concept teaching of high school biology,designing the teaching framework and strategies for regulating cognitive load and applying them to practice,so as to promote students’ concept learning while regulating cognitive load.Through the analysis of relevant literature,the research questions were determined as follows: What is the current situation of students’ cognitive load in the instruction of high school biology concepts? Combined with the current cognitive load situation and the features of biological concept teaching,based on cognitive load theory,how can the instructional framework and strategies be designed? How effective are the instructional framework and strategies based on cognitive load theory in regulating cognitive load and promoting concept learning? In order to solve the above-mentioned problems,a follow-up study was conducted on the students in grade one and grade two of a middle school in Chongqing.First,through student questionnaires and interviews with teachers,the current situation of cognitive load in biology concept teaching in high school was understood.It was found that students’ internal and external cognitive load in biology concept teaching was high,while the related cognitive load was low.Some teachers had heavy test-taking thinking,and the teaching concept and method needed to be updated.Secondly,based on cognitive load theory,in combination with the features of high school biology concept instruction and the current cognitive load situation,the framework and strategies of high school biology concept teaching based on cognitive load theory were designed around "three links,three types and four stages".Then,taking "Nucleic acid is the carrier of genetic information" and "Division of labor and cooperation among organelles" in PEP edition of high school biology as examples,the instructional designs were conducted according to the established instructional framework and strategy.Finally,the section "Division of labor and cooperation among organelles(the first class)" was chosen for the practice of teaching in two classes with no significant difference in pretest cognitive load and conceptual learning achievement.In the experimental class,conceptual instruction was based on cognitive load theory,while in the control class,conventional instruction was adopted.Then the cognitive load and concept learning of the two classes were tested.Cognitive load could be measured from two dimensions of mental effort and task difficulty,while concept learning was reflected in after-class test results.According to the experimental data,it could be seen that the significant difference was there in the overall cognitive load,psychological pressure level and after-school test scores between the two classes.And the overall cognitive load,psychological pressure level and the perception of task difficulty of the experimental class are lower than the control class,while the after-class test scores are higher than the control class.This indicated that the conceptual teaching framework and strategies of high school biology based on cognitive load theory could promote students’ conceptual learning while regulating cognitive load.It can be seen that applying cognitive load theory in the teaching of high school biology concepts can help regulate students’ cognitive load,reduce students’ unnecessary learning load,enrich the achievements of cognitive load theory in the instructional domain,help improve the teaching of biological concepts and promote the cultivation of core literacy of biology discipline.At the same time,teachers’ mastery and application of cognitive load theory is also conducive to the enhancement of the capacity and quality of teachers,and its ultimate objective is to promote the effectiveness of concept teaching.