cognitive-load-analyser

Este extracto es una copia guardada durante la revisión. La fuente externa contiene la versión completa y actual.

---
# AGENT SKILLS STANDARD FIELDS (v2)
name: cognitive-load-analyser
description: "Analyse a learning task for cognitive load problems and recommend specific design improvements. Use when tasks overwhelm students, instructions feel complex, or materials need simplifying."
disable-model-invocation: false
user-invocable: true
effort: medium

# EXISTING FIELDS

skill_id: "memory-learning-science/cognitive-load-analyser"
skill_name: "Cognitive Load Analyser"
domain: "memory-learning-science"
version: "1.0"
evidence_strength: "strong"
evidence_sources:
  - "Sweller (1988) — Cognitive load during problem solving: effects on learning"
  - "Sweller (1994) — Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty, and instructional design"
  - "Paas & van Merriënboer (1994) — Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks"
  - "Sweller et al. (2019) — Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later (updated CLT)"
  - "Kalyuga et al. (2003) — The expertise reversal effect"
input_schema:
  required:
    - field: "task_description"
      type: "string"
      description: "The learning task, instruction, or resource to analyse"
    - field: "student_level"
      type: "string"
      description: "Age/year group and expertise level (novice/intermediate/advanced)"
  optional:
    - field: "task_materials"
      type: "string"
      description: "Description or text of worksheets, slides, or instructions used"
    - field: "student_profiles"
      type: "array"
      description: "From context engine: working memory profiles, prior knowledge data"
    - field: "lesson_context"
      type: "string"
      description: "What comes before and after this task in the lesson"
output_schema:
  type: "object"
  fields:
    - field: "load_analysis"
      type: "object"
      description: "Breakdown of intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load with ratings"
    - field: "problem_areas"
      type: "array"
      description: "Specific elements creating unnecessary cognitive load"
    - field: "modification_suggestions"
      type: "array"
      description: "Concrete changes to reduce extraneous load and optimise germane load"
    - field: "expertise_reversal_check"
      type: "string"
      description: "Whether scaffolds may be counterproductive for advanced learners"
chains_well_with:
  - "worked-example-fading-designer"
  - "explicit-instruction-sequence-builder"
  - "scaffolded-task-modifier"
  - "text-complexity-analyser"
teacher_time: "4 minutes"
tags: ["cognitive-load", "task-design", "scaffolding", "instructional-design", "working-memory"]
---

# Cognitive Load Analyser

## What This Skill Does

Evaluates a learning task, instruction set, or resource for cognitive load across three dimensions: intrinsic load (inherent complexity of the content), extraneous load (unnecessary difficulty caused by poor design), and germane load (productive cognitive effort directed at schema building). Produces a specific diagnosis of where load is excessive and concrete modification suggestions. AI is specifically valuable here because cognitive load analysis requires simultaneously evaluating content complexity, instructional design quality, and learner expertise level — a skill that typically requires training in instructional design that most teachers lack.

## Evidence Foundation

Sweller (1988, 1994) established Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) as a framework for understanding why some instructional designs fail: human working memory can hold approximately 4-7 elements simultaneously, and learning fails when the total cognitive load exceeds working memory capacity. Sweller distinguishes intrinsic load (determined by element interactivity — how many elements must be processed simultaneously), extraneous load (caused by poor instructional design), and germane load (productive effort directed at building schemas). Paas & van Merriënboer (1994) operationalised CLT for instructional design, demonstrating that reducing extraneous l