The simulation shows a working memory workspace with a limited number of slots filling up as raw, unchunked information items are added, then shows how grouping related items into chunks lets the same slots represent far more underlying information at once.
Add information items one at a time to watch the working memory slots fill toward capacity, toggle chunking on to see related items merge into single units, and switch between a novice and an expert learner profile to see how prior knowledge changes how much intrinsic load the same material produces.
Item add button, chunking toggle, novice/expert profile select, working memory slot capacity display
John Sweller developed Cognitive Load Theory in the 1980s partly by studying why minimally guided problem-solving so often failed novices, and his 1988 paper on the worked example effect remains one of the most cited studies in all of educational psychology.
The simulation shows a working memory workspace with a limited number of slots filling up as raw, unchunked information items are added, then shows how grouping related items into chunks lets the same slots represent far more underlying information at once.
The simulation shows a working memory workspace with a limited number of slots filling up as raw, unchunked information items are added, then shows how grouping related items into chunks lets the same slots represent far more underlying information at once.
Add information items one at a time to watch the working memory slots fill toward capacity, toggle chunking on to see related items merge into single units, and switch between a novice and an expert learner profile to see how prior knowledge changes how much intrinsic load the same material produces.
John Sweller developed Cognitive Load Theory in the 1980s partly by studying why minimally guided problem-solving so often failed novices, and his 1988 paper on the worked example effect remains one of the most cited studies in all of educational psychology.