Keynote Presentations
 

Abstract

Problem solving is the most common intellectual activity performed in the everyday and professional worlds, yet we fail to teach students how to solve the diverse problems they will face.  In this presentation, I describe different kinds of problems and then illustrate the building blocks of problem-based learning environments along with the cognitive scaffolds that integrate those building blocks.
 

Abstract

It is argued that challenges of contemporary education require new forms of research collaboration and communication across disciplines. Interdisciplinary perspectives are needed to enable us to make truly original and useful contributions to theories of cognition and learning and practice. In electronic and conventional learning arrangements the amount of guidance learners receive is supposed to decrease as learning progresses, preferably until the ultimate goal of unguided learning is achieved. However, it often is not clear how much and which type of guidance needs to be provided during specific stages of expertise development to optimize learning. This presentation will focus on the role of human cognitive architecture in the transition from guided to unguided learning, using the theoretical framework of cognitive load. I will show how cognitive load theory can be used to determine how much and which type of guidance should be provided. Based on the outcomes of analyses of learner and task characteristics and the associated cognitive load imposed upon a learner, cognitive load theory can provide instructional guidelines to optimize learning and transfer. Examples will be presented to illustrate how methods and findings from neuroscience and cognitive aging research can be used by cognitive load researchers and instructional designers to determine which type and how much guidance is needed during the learning process.

Bio

Fred Paas works as a full professor of educational psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands and as a honorary professor at the Open University of the Netherlands. His main research interest is in instructional control of cognitive load in lifelong learning of complex tasks. His six most influential publications have been cited over 2000 times, including “Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design” (Educational Psychologist, 2003), “Cognitive Load Measurement as a Means to Advance Cognitive Load Theory” (Educational Psychologist, 2003), “Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design” (Educational Psychology Review, 1998), “Variability of Worked Examples and Transfer of Geometrical Problem-Solving Skill” (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1994), “The Efficiency of Instructional Conditions” (Human Factors, 1993), “Training Strategies for Attaining Transfer of Problem-Solving Skill in Statistics” (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1992).

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