the psychology of learning and motivation - Percepts and Concepts ...

48 John Swellerreproduction results in a logical structure ensuring that each generation isnecessarily different from the previous generation. Sexual reproductionoccurs in order to ensure that, unlike the case of asexual reproduction,generational variation is a logical necessity of the procedure. Duringsexual reproduction, information is obtained and combined from bothmale and female parents resulting in offspring that necessarily differ fromeither parent. Information is not only borrowed, it is also reorganized.The acquisition and storage of information in long-term memorymore closely resembles sexual than asexual reproduction. We rarelyremember information with minimal or no change in the same way asasexual reproduction or as an electronic recording device ‘‘remember’’information. We do acquire or borrow the vast bulk of the informationheld in long-term memory from other people, but we alter that informationdepending on what we have already stored in long-term memory.The processes by which we borrow information from others are wellknown. We imitate other people (Bandura, 1986), listen to what otherstell us, read what they write, and look at diagrams and pictures that theyproduce. Listening, reading, and looking at diagrams and pictures areparticularly important in the acquisition of the biologically secondaryinformation that is the subject of education and training. The vast bulkof the biologically secondary information that is stored in long-termmemory is acquired by one of the processes or a combination of theseprocesses.Although information is borrowed from others, it is reorganized in amanner analogous to sexual reproduction. We combine new informationwith information already stored in long-term memory and it is the new,reorganized information that is stored rather than an exact copy of theinformation that was presented. In other words, we store information asschemas rather than as precise copies (Chi, Glaser, & Rees, 1982). Eachschema stored is likely to be different from the schema held in the longtermmemory of the person from whom it was borrowed because it is acombination of the borrowed information combined with informationalready held in long-term memory.Cognitive load theory has been used to generate many instructionaleffects and these effects rely heavily on the borrowing and reorganizingprinciple. The effects are largely concerned with techniques for presentinginformation to learners that are most likely to result in the facilitation ofschema acquisition. In addition to the acquisition of schemas, cognitiveload theory is also concerned with their automation so that they can be usedwithout conscious processing in working memory (Kotovsky, Hayes, &Simon, 1985; Schneider & Shiffrin, 1977; Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977). Inthe case of schema acquisition, the theory assumes that learners acquiredomain-specific information that is best obtained from other people. Allthe cognitive load instructional effects depend on these assumptions.