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Mapping instruction with media.

Article Excerpt
GENERAL SEMANTICIST J. SAMUEL BOIS (1978, 6) stated that "[a] revolution is a radical and irreversible change in a fundamental element in our way of life." He describes the technical developments which are occurring today as a revolution making modern lives vastly different from those of their ancestors. Marshall McLuhan in The Medium is the Massage (1967) proposed that the revolutionary changes currently taking place in technology and information processing are "working over" the population. This is especially evident in the classroom where multimedia delivery systems have replaced many older methods of instruction.

Cognitive Load Theory

General semanticists propose that we can only learn that which is perceived through the senses. We cannot take in "all" to which we are exposed, and so we necessarily selectively perceive, and from these perceptions we abstract, label and structure information for storage in our cognitive systems. "Structure" to a general semanticist refers to patterns of relations, structuring and ordering. Korzybski (1958) stated, "the only possible content of knowledge is structural." (p. 260) Each individual has unique past experiences which influence structuring and ordering, and no two individuals "see" alike, and this presents challenges for those who teach today with multimedia.

With today's sophisticated media use cognitive load has taken on a new significance in the classroom environment. Cognitive load is explained as the amount of mental activity imposed on memory at an instant, the demand on working memory during problem solving, thinking and reasoning. Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988; 1994) is an instructional theory from the discipline of cognitive science which describes learning in terms of a processing system consisting of short-term, working, and long-term memory. Through the senses information is perceived and enters short-term memory. As the information passes through short-term memory and into the working memory it can be associated with one or more general principles and integrated into long-term storage. Since working memory is extremely limited in both capacity and duration learners cannot perceive all of the information presented or encountered. When too much information is readily available or poorly organized, burdensome constraints are placed on the working memory, and learning is impeded.

According to Chandler and Sweller (1991) instruction has an inherent level of difficulty which is known as intrinsic cognitive load which is the functioning necessary in the working memory to learn the task at hand. Learning bits of information independent of other informational elements requires low intrinsic cognitive load. For example, a child learning the 26 letters of the alphabet would require low intrinsic cognition functioning. A...

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