Cognitive Load in Solving Mathematics Problems: Validating the Role of Motivation and the Interaction Among Prior Knowledge, Worked Examples, and Task Difficulty

Cognitive load can play a key role in learners’ abilities to solve complex problems like mathematics. Many factors can affect the presence of cognitive load in learning including instructional strategy, task difficulty and prior knowledge. To understand the interaction of above factors and their influence on learner cognitive load and performance, a three-way interaction study was conducted with worked example (full- vs. completion-worked examples), task difficulty (easy vs. difficult) and prior knowledge (high vs. low) serving as independent variables, and cognitive load and performance as dependent variables.  One hundred and sixty participants were recruited who were randomly assigned into one of eight learning conditions. Results revealed a significant three-way interaction by posttest. It was found that higher-prior knowledge learners performed better with completion-worked examples than full-worked examples whereas lower-prior knowledge learners performed better with full-worked examples than completion-worked examples. Significant positive correlation was found between intrinsic and germane cognitive load implying that interest in the instructional domain is an important determinant in effecting germane cognitive load.