Task complexity and cognitive load in simulation‐based education: A randomised trial.
Introduction: When designing simulation for novices, educators aim to design tasks and environments that are complex enough to promote learning but not too complex to compromise task performance and cause cognitive overload. This study aimed to determine the impact of modulating task and environment...
| Publicado en: | Medical Education Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 161 - 170 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Feb2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=161228970&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 161228970 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 03080110 ESF jtl: Medical Education issn: 03080110 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Feb2023 vid: 57 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 161228970 159514431 161228970 161228970 10.1111/medu.14941 161228970 ppf: 161 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Task complexity and cognitive load in simulation‐based education: A randomised trial. aug: au: Tremblay, Marie‐Laurence Rethans, Jan‐Joost Dolmans, Diana affil: Faculty of Pharmacy, Laval University, Quebec City Quebec,, Canada sug: subj: Task Performance and Analysis Evaluation Learning Environment Cognition Evaluation Students, Pharmacy Treatment Outcomes Human Randomized Controlled Trials Random Assignment Factorial Design Videorecording Questionnaires Student Knowledge Descriptive Statistics ab: Introduction: When designing simulation for novices, educators aim to design tasks and environments that are complex enough to promote learning but not too complex to compromise task performance and cause cognitive overload. This study aimed to determine the impact of modulating task and environment complexity on novices' performance and cognitive load during simulation. Methods: Second‐year pharmacy students (N = 162) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (2 × 2 factorial design) in simulation: simple task in simple environment, complex task in simple environment, simple task in complex environment and complex task in complex environment. Using video recordings, two raters assessed students' performance during the simulation. We measured intrinsic cognitive load (ICL) and extraneous cognitive load (ECL) with questionnaires after the task and tested knowledge after task and debriefing. Results: Mean performance scores in simple environment were 28.2/32 (SD = 3.8) for simple task and 25.8/32 (SD = 4.2) for complex task. In complex environment, mean performance scores were 24.6/32 (SD = 5.2) for simple task and 25.6/32 (SD = 5.3) for complex task. We found significant interaction effects between task and environment complexity for performance. In simple environment, mean ICL scores were 4.2/10 (SD = 2.2) for simple task and 5.7/10 (SD = 1.5) for complex task. In complex environment, mean ICL scores were 4.9/10 (SD = 1.8) for simple task and 5.1/10 (SD = 1.9) for complex task. There was a main effect of task complexity on ICL. For ECL, we found neither an interaction effect nor main effects of task and environment complexity. There was a main effect of task complexity on knowledge test after task and main effects of both task and environment complexity on knowledge after debriefing. Conclusions: Performance was good, and cognitive load remained reasonable in all conditions, which suggests that, despite increased complexity, students seemed to strategically manage their own cognitive load and learn from the simulations. Our findings also indicate that environmental complexity contributes to ICL. This research on simulation‐based training demonstrates that when novice students face complexity, they manage cognitive load to maintain good performance by focusing on specific portions of the task. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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