Researchers have long recognized that there appears to be a limit to the amount of information that the working memory can process simultaneously. Anything beyond that limit will likely lead to cognitive overload for many adults and seriously interfere with and inhibit the learning process. The collection of physiological data such as heart rate or EEG has been established as a valid and reliable method for measuring changes in cognitive load. Unlike other techniques of measuring load, these metrics can often be gathered in real-time, are sensitive to small changes in load, and with the advent of recent technological advances, can be collected unobtrusively. This poster will highlight our efforts to better understand the topics in organic chemistry 2 that induce large changes in cognitive load. It will also seek to compare and contrast the topics that induce load during both semesters.

Measuring chemistry students' cognitive load on working memory: The development of an inventory of load-inducing topics in organic chemistry 2

255th National Meeting (2018)

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