雅思阅读

📖 Reading Passage

The concept of 'cognitive load' refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In educational psychology, it is often divided into three types: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane. Intrinsic load is associated with the inherent difficulty of the material itself, which cannot be altered by instructional design. Extraneous load is generated by the way information is presented to learners, and can be minimized through effective teaching strategies. Germane load, on the other hand, is the effort devoted to processing and constructing schemas, which is beneficial for learning. Research suggests that when extraneous load is high, learners have fewer mental resources available for germane processing, thereby hindering deeper understanding. Therefore, instructional designers aim to reduce extraneous load to free up cognitive capacity for meaningful learning.