Techniques That Reduce Extraneous Cognitive Load and Manage Intrinsic Cognitive Load during Multimedia Learning

"Techniques That Reduce Extraneous Cognitive Load and Manage Intrinsic Cognitive Load during Multimedia Learning" by Richard E. Mayer and Roxana Moreno is an interesting article about how people learn best. The article started with some information that I thought was obvious, but I know teachers still teach this way sometimes. Mayer and Moreno proved that you should always model and explain simultaneously. They say you shouldn't do this because of extraneous processing, but to put it simply, students can get confused and forget things that are important if you separate the information.

Mayer and Moreno also had an extremely interesting section called "Research-Based Principles for Reducing Extraneous Cognitive Overload." In this section they explained the results of their research that concluded children learn best without interesting, attention grabbing clips, or music or nature sounds. This was shocking to me at first, but then I realized that the children will only remember the clip of lightning and the cool music, rather than the information. I must agree with Mayer and Moreno that information should be "concise rather than elaborate" (137).

Although Mayer and Moreno seem to be asking for a more boring classroom, they are also asking for a more educated one. The article really made me have to chose between being a "fun" teacher and a "good" teacher.