recently-published study<\/a>, an international group of researchers asked almost 1300 Australian students in grades 7-10 to fill out surveys about their academic experience.<\/p>\nSome questions asked student to rate their teachers’ efforts to reduce the complexity of the material (that is, the “instructional load”):<\/p>\n
On a scale of 1-7, they responded to statements like:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we learn new things\u00a0in class, the teacher makes it easy at first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we work on tasks or activities in this class, the teacher gives good assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this class, the teacher makes sure we get enough practice before moving on to new tasks or activities.”<\/p>\n
Other statements focused mental work the students were doing (that is, their “cognitive load”):<\/p>\n
“The work in this class is very difficult for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way information is presented in this class is too\u00a0complex.”<\/p>\n
Still others inquired about the teachers’ motivational strategies, and the students’ experience of motivation:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher communicates which learning goals he\/she expects you to accomplish
\nby the end of the lesson;\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher doesn\u2019t plan or organize too much. The\u00a0lesson will just happen;\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher offers a very interesting,\u00a0highly engaging lesson;\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe teacher insists that you have to finish all your\u00a0required work\u2014no exceptions, no excuses\u201d<\/p>\n
As you can see right away, these researchers have an ENORMOUS amount of data to crunch as they calculate the relationships among all these variables.<\/p>\n
By the way, we should note the researchers’ method here: they’re considering\u00a0survey data<\/em>. Some people — quite reasonably — worry that survey data can’t really capture classroom reality.<\/p>\nFor instance, a student might perceive that\u00a0\u201cthe teacher doesn\u2019t plan or organize too much. The\u00a0lesson will just happen.\u201d But that perception might be entirely inaccurate.<\/p>\n
With that caveat in mind, what did the researchers find?<\/p>\n
The (Basic) Results: Reversing Assumptions<\/h2>\n
Given all the variables measured above, we can expect LOTS of findings — reported in graphs and equations and declarations.<\/p>\n
What does it all boil down to?<\/p>\n
The simple summary\u00a0reverses a common belief<\/em>.<\/p>\nTeachers often assume that “when my students feel motivated, they will learn more.”<\/p>\n
These data suggest that “when my students learn more, they feel motivated.”<\/p>\n
More precisely: according to the survey data, teachers who ensure that cognitive load remains managable help students learn more.\u00a0That additional learning correlates with higher subsequent motivation.<\/p>\n
This finding makes a rough-n-ready sense. For example: my students rarely clamor to learn grammar; they are, honestly, not super motivated to do so.<\/p>\n
However, part of their demotivation results from the fact that\u00a0grammar learning is notoriously difficult<\/em>. (“Object complements,” anyone?) My students just feel bad when they keep failing at it.<\/p>\nIf I teach well — that is, if I reduce the cognitive load of learning grammar — they are likelier to succeed at doing so. Result: they feel\u00a0less demotivated<\/em>. Heck, they might even feel motivated.<\/em><\/p>\nThe (Advanced) Results: All That Lingo<\/h2>\n
Research ain’t research if it doesn’t include lots of niche-y terminology.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, as is often the case, the terminology here gets rather confusing.<\/p>\n
Because the research team draws on two very different fields (working memory, motivation), and two different theories (cognitive load, self-determination), we can easily get bogged down in the terminological niceties.<\/p>\n
For example, the researches consider a teacher’s motivational style along two axes: do the teachers support<\/em> or thwart<\/em> students’ needs; are they highly directive<\/em> or not. The resulting four quadrants are broken down into further sub-categories, resulting in — I’m not joking here — EIGHT different teaching styles: “attuning,” “guiding,” “clarifying,” “demanding,” “domineering,” and so forth.<\/p>\nThe word “autonomy” — quite an important word in self-determination theory — leads to particular puzzles.<\/p>\n
We might reasonably think that “autonomy” means “the teacher encourages students by giving them relatively more freedom to explore and solve problems on their own.” However, in this terminological world:<\/p>\n
“Autonomy\u00a0support … directs attention\u00a0towards activities that are necessary for learning, thus reducing the proportion of\u00a0cognitive load that is extraneous.”<\/p>\n
Which is to say,\u00a0teachers support\u00a0autonomy by “directing” students in specific ways. Lots of student freedom might sound “autonomous,” but that’s not what the word “autonomy” means in this context.<\/p>\n
To Sum Up<\/h2>\n
I’ve focused on this terminology because I think the study’s results are easy to misunderstand.<\/p>\n
Here is their conclusion, quoted from the abstract:<\/p>\n
We conclude that by using load-reducing strategies and a motivating style characterized by structure and autonomy support, teachers can reduce students\u2019 cognitive load and improve their self-regulated motivation, engagement, and achievement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In that sentence, “autonomy support” does NOT mean “give students lots of freedom” or “be sure to emphasize voice and choice.” Instead, it means “students can think effectively and autonomously when teachers direct them towards specific and manageable cognitive work.”<\/p>\n
That effective thinking, it turn, results in more learning, and higher levels of motivation.<\/p>\n
The big picture: by putting together two distinct research fields — cognitive load theory and self determination theory — we can start to get a clearer picture of complex classroom realities.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A final note:<\/p>\n
The title of this blog post includes the phrase “teaching style” because the researchers use it.<\/p>\n
That phrase, however,\u00a0does NOT mean that “learning styles” are a thing. They’re not<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nEvans, P., Vansteenkiste, M., Parker, P., Kingsford-Smith, A., & Zhou, S. (2024). Cognitive Load Theory and Its Relationships with Motivation: a Self-Determination Theory Perspective.\u00a0Educational Psychology Review<\/i>,\u00a036<\/i>(1), 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers tend to focus on particular topics in education. Some folks study\u00a0attention, while others look at\u00a0motivation. A research team here might look at\u00a0working memory, while that team over there considers\u00a0sleep. And: let’s not forget about\u00a0technology! Of course, it’s useful to have specialists in each of these fields; each one is highly complicated. At the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":7439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[194,24,30],"class_list":["post-7435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-cognitive-load-theory","tag-motivation","tag-working-memory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7435"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7443,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7435\/revisions\/7443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a><\/p>\n