Synonyms
Definition
How to design instructional procedures.
Introduction
Governing principles of instructional design can be derived from our knowledge of human cognition. In turn, the characteristics of human cognition are intricately bound in the structures and processes of evolutionary psychology. Cognitive load theory (Sweller et al. 2011) uses human cognitive architecture and evolutionary psychology to devise novel instructional procedures. Only some categories of knowledge can provide substantive subject matter for instruction with evolutionary psychology determining which subject matter can be meaningfully taught. Furthermore, the processing characteristics associated with teachable information closely mimic the information processing characteristics of biological evolution allowing us to use the well-known processes that guide biological evolution as a template to assist in understanding aspects of human cognition relevant to...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Chen, O., Castro-Alonso, J. C., Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (in press). Extending cognitive load theory to incorporate working memory resource depletion: Evidence from the spacing effect. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-017-9426-2.
Geary, D. (2008). An evolutionarily informed education science. Educational Psychologist, 43, 179–195.
Geary, D., & Berch, D. (2016). Evolution and children’s cognitive and academic development. In D. Geary & D. Berch (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on child development and education (pp. 217–249). Cham: Springer.
Kirschner, P., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. (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, 75–86.
Paas, F., & Sweller, J. (2012). An evolutionary upgrade of cognitive load theory: Using the human motor system and collaboration to support the learning of complex cognitive tasks. Educational Psychology Review, 24, 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-011-9179-2.
Sweller, J. (2016). Cognitive load theory, evolutionary educational psychology, and instructional design. In D. Geary & D. Berch (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on child development and education (pp. 291–306). Cham: Springer.
Sweller, J., & Sweller, S. (2006). Natural information processing systems. Evolutionary Psychology, 4, 434–458.
Sweller, J., Kirschner, P., & Clark, R. E. (2007). Why minimally guided teaching techniques do not work: A reply to commentaries. Educational Psychologist, 42, 115–121.
Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. New York: Springer.
Tricot, A., & Sweller, J. (2014). Domain-specific knowledge and why teaching generic skills does not work. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 265–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9243-1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sweller, J. (2021). Instructional Design. In: Shackelford, T.K., Weekes-Shackelford, V.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2438
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_2438
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19649-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19650-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences