This week, we learned another three of Mayer’s principles from the point of view of managing intrinsic cognitive load, and also trying a new things, sketchnoting, to represent an idea and concept.

The intrinsic load is the challenge that naturally occurs whenever you are learning a new task. For example, when I am reading an economic textbook with a great deal of new terminology takes much more cognitive effort than reading a novel written at a level intended for children.

• Three principles related to managing intrinsic cognitive load
  • Segmenting: learn best when information is presented in segments, rather than one long continuous stream. 
  • Pre-training: understanding basic definitions, terms, or concepts before beginning the learning experience.
  • Modality: people learn best from visuals and spoken words than from visuals and printed words.

Sketchnotes (sketch + notes) are visual notes, so more than just the regular text notes we all are used to take. I have tried sketch note before, and I have to say that it is the most effective ways to remember new information and create links to other related concepts and ideas. when I use sketchnote to review the content of the previous lesson, I can recall the concepts through the images I see, because words are abstract and hard to retain in the brain, while visuals are concrete and will be easier to remember, and over time they will all be etched in my long-term memory.