School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 18;17(3):e0265547. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265547. eCollection 2022.
Central to cognitive load theory is the concept of element interactivity, which reflects the complexity of material. The complexity of linear equations depends on the number of operational and relational lines and the nature of the operation (balance versus inverse) in the solution procedure. A relational line refers to the quantitative relation whereby the right-hand side of the equation equals to its left-hand side. An operational line refers to the application of an operation and such a procedural step preserves the equality of the linear equation. The balance method and inverse method differ in the operational line (e.g., + 3 on both sides vs.- 3 becomes + 3) where the inverse operation imposes half the level of element interactivity as the balance method. Seventy-five students randomly assigned to either the balance group or inverse group to complete (i) one-step equations (Experiment 1), (ii) two-step equations (Experiment 2), and (iii) one-step and two-step equations with a focus on equations with negative pronumerals (Experiment 3). Performance favoured the inverse group when the gap between the low and high element interactivity equations was substantial enough. Both groups performed better and invested lower mental effort on the inverse operation than the balance operation.
认知负荷理论的核心是要素交互性的概念，它反映了材料的复杂性。线性方程的复杂性取决于运算和关系线的数量以及求解过程中的运算性质（平衡与逆）。关系线是指等式右边等于其左边的定量关系。操作线是指操作的应用，这样的过程步骤保持了线性方程的等式。平衡法和逆法在操作线上有所不同（例如，两边都加 3 变成两边都加 3），其中逆运算的要素交互性水平比平衡法低一半。75 名学生被随机分配到平衡组或逆法组，以完成（i）一步方程（实验 1），（ii）两步方程（实验 2），以及（iii）一步和两步方程，重点是带有负代词的方程（实验 3）。当低要素交互性方程和高要素交互性方程之间的差距足够大时，逆法组的表现优于平衡组。两组在逆运算上的表现都优于平衡运算，投入的心理努力也低于平衡运算。
