Week # 36 - Learning Design to Limit Cognitive Load

Why Thinking Load Matters 🧠💭

Learning is fragile. Nuanced. Highly dependent on the intersection between learning environment, learning design, and learning critique. This IS The Crafted Concept.

The human brain cannot process information in limitless streams. It filters, constrains, and monitors inputs through working memory (or short-term memory). John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory reminds us that when instructional design overwhelms working memory, learning collapses. The working memory is reported to be able to hold anything between 5-9 unique individual items in the average human being.

Think about your mobile phone number. 11 digits which I guarantee you only commit to long-term memory because of the way you chunk together repetitive sounds of different numbers together, or when double digits are presented together. This is why is sounds so weird when someone relays your number back to you in a tone/pitch you do not normally recall it.

The consequence or overloaded working memories is not simply tired learners, but misdirected effort: energy expended on managing complexity rather than constructing knowledge.

If we want learners to thrive: whether analysing a poem or rehearsing a set piece, we must design environments where thinking capacity is protected and channelled. A Crafted Instructor does not add noise, but curates clarity.

The Architecture of Load

Cognitive load divides into three parts:

Intrinsic load: the complexity inherent in the material. Solving a multistep algebra problem or rehearsing a coordinated tactical play both carry a baseline level of difficulty versus reciting your times tables.

Extraneous load: the unnecessary clutter introduced by poor design. Overloaded slides, confusing instructions, pointless anecdotes, or irrelevant drills all drain working memory capacity.

Germane load: this is representative of the desirable effort devoted to building and refining schema. Germane effort is how learners organise and connect information.

Our role is not to eliminate challenge, but to manage these layers so that mental energy is invested in germane rather than extraneous demands.

Implications for instruction

Sweller’s research offers clear direction for instructional craft:

Simplify the path: Break complex tasks into manageable steps. This “worked example effect” reduces initial burden while modelling the process of thinking. By scaffolding clear steps, the instructor/coach/teacher limits the impact on working memory.

Cut the noise: Avoid split attention. Present information in a streamlined way, aligning words, visuals, and demonstrations so learners are not asked to integrate scattered inputs. Decide the most salient information required before you unleash a half-time team talk which serves more of a monologue of the first half – a stream of consciousness burdening your players!

Leverage prior knowledge: Connect new material to existing schema. This reduces the strain of novelty and increases the efficiency of working memory. The stitching of ideas to existing knowledge also leads to the phenomena of “chunking” together information into a coherent schema or strain of details. This is exactly how you can recall your 11-digit mobile phone number!

Foster gradual independence: Begin with guided models, then fade scaffolds as competence grows. This optimises germane load, shifting effort into meaning-making.

Application for Teachers & Coaches

In a classroom, cognitive load is managed when a teacher introduces one worked example before asking for independent problem-solving. Too many examples, too quickly, risks overwhelm. Too few, and learners suffer without guidance.

On the pitch, the same applies. Introducing three tactical changes at once forces players to juggle competing cues. Instead, layering one focus point at a time helps the working memory to cope, allowing schema to embed through processing and reflection.

The Crafted Instructor moves between simplicity and sophistication with intent. They know that overload is not a badge of honour, but a signal of poor design.

Ideas to Limit Load

To limit cognitive load, we can:

Design with sequence: Strip complexity back, then layer gradually.

Use clear visual anchors: A diagram, a freeze-frame, or a simple sketchbook note reduces mental juggling.

Circulate for feedback: Watch for signs of overload—hesitation, blank responses, surface answers. These reveal when working memory is swamped.

Prioritise depth over volume: Covering less material, with more deliberate clarity, achieves richer retention than racing through breadth.

Closing reflection

Cognitive load is not just a theory—it is the architecture of how humans think. When we design to protect working memory, we create the conditions for understanding to flourish.

The Crafted Instructor does not overwhelm. They channel. They strip back to essentials, then build upwards. They know that learning is not powered by pressure but by precision.