Worked example effect

Learning increasingly complex ideas may amount to forming larger effective chunk sizes

Element interactivity

Memory augmentation may make it easier to learn complex topics by decreasing working memory load

# Chen, O., Castro-Alonso, J. C., Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2018). Undesirable difficulty effects in the learning of high-element interactivity materials. Frontiers in Psychology, 9

Theoretical summary integrating recent studies demonstrating a failure of the [[zTpJdbe6ub7uhBFLuHkFsrT:::Testing effect]] and [[z26C6ing3sqiZMHRVFuT6xn:::Generation effect]] in situations where [[zBk3AaWYp4spoTbc1f5aYvC:::Element interactivity]] is high. They extrapolate to suggest that [[zYB7kwEFRu8QALcbzbcoy9T:::Desirable difficulties, after Bjork]] in general may be undesirable when element interactivity is high, by reasoning in terms of [[zKPm7dRfoX7TPXR9KvBCAeM:::Cognitive load theory]] and working memory availability. This logic may also explain the [[zD8D8PPRBDEFk3JeM2vaWrn:::Worked example effect]].

See e.g. [[zMjGz9ddgwjxadBRxQCnnWY:::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]] for a review of the broader issue being explored here.

Senior author: [[zPgXrAJFwMCMLBTZiKaPtvD:::John Sweller]]








Chen, O., Castro-Alonso, J. C., Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2018). Undesirable difficulty effects in the learning of high-element interactivity materials. Frontiers in Psychology, 9