Cognitive psychology researcher, known for his role in introducing Cognitive load theory.
He’s part of the big flame war against Athlete musician scale framing origin timeline (Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75–86)
And he’s suggested that the Testing effect has limited application for complex material: van Gog, T., & Sweller, J. (2015). Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: The Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases. Educational Psychology Review, 27(2), 247–264, contra Jeffrey Karpicke and others.
Q. How was I introduced to the work of John Sweller?
A. Worked example effect and Cognitive load theory literature.