The ‘Split Attention Effect’ is when pupils are exposed to too much information and their attention is spread too thin. This can lead to a reduced intake of important information and slowed learning, as pupils are unable to process so much at once.
This staff meeting stater provides staff with an opportunity to discuss extraneous cognitive load and pupils working memory when teaching or creating materials and resources and consider how they can ensure information that must be combined is placed together in space and time.
Linked resources
One of the strategies to combat the split attention effect is the use of dual coding. This is because the split attention effect and dual coding theory, but they represent opposite ends of the spectrum in how information is presented and processed. Dual coding supports the use complementary sources which are processed in separate channels (visual and verbal) to aid learning. Visit the ‘memory and learning’ section of our training module page to view the dual coding video. You might also want to look at the training module about cognitive load theory in the classroom as we focus on reducing the extraneous cognitive load through our teaching materials.
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