Fred Paas
Biographic Data
| ID | 1752950 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fred Paas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fred |
| FAMILY NAME | Paas |
| SIGNATURE | PAAS F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wollongong |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1647-5305 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 72 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 72 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Brief Pre-Class Physical Exercise Selectively Enhances Mathematics-Specific Inhibitory Control: A Cluster-Randomized Trial in Authentic Classrooms
Five Educational-Psychology Lenses for Training and Evaluating AI Models
Artificial intelligence has drawn on cognitive and educational psychology since its origins, and contemporary training pipelines for large language models and related systems (curated data curricula, staged prompting supports, feedback from human judges, and benchmark-driven evaluation) make this connection unusually concrete. Drawing on Messick’s (1995) unified theory of validity, we use educational psychology to derive a set of validity checks …
Validity of Eye-Tracking Measures in Immersive Virtual Reality: Using Cognitive Theories of Learning
Eye tracking is a promising research tool for investigating learning processes in immersive virtual reality (IVR). Grounded in cognitive theories of learning, this study proposes a classification of six key learning processes (i.e., cognitive, motivational, affective, social, metacognitive, media-specific) and nine associated constructs (i.e., attention, visual strategy, cognitive load, motivation, emotion, social attention, self-regulation, imme…
Student engagement profiles in a mobile app: Links to self-regulated learning and performance
Engaging in independent learning during self-study time is an essential part of learning in higher education. The ubiquity of mobile devices and their applications offer students a flexible, on-the-go learning experience. However, flexible learning environments require students to self-regulate their learning. The current study examined student engagement with a mobile study app intended for students to engage in retrieval practice with feedback …
Goal setting in higher education: How, why, and when are students prompted to set goals? A systematic review
The increasingly digital landscape of higher education has highlighted the importance of self-regulated learning in digital learning environments. To support this, academic goal setting is frequently used to enhance self-regulated learning in order to improve academic performance. Although many studies have explored the implementation of goal setting activities as behavioral modifiers, the implementation of goal setting across these studies is va…
The Effect of Growth Mindset Interventions on Students’ Self-Regulated Use of Retrieval Practice
Although general growth mindset interventions have been found to improve learning outcomes, relatively little research focused on effects of specific growth mindset interventions. However, domain-specific growth mindset beliefs may be a more accurate predictor of performance within that same domain. The current study investigated the effect of a specific growth mindset intervention designed to enhance self-regulated learning on learners’ adoption…
Cognitive Load Theory: Emerging Trends and Innovations
Cognitive load theory (Sweller et al [...]
Learning from different multimedia representation formats: Effects of prior knowledge
We investigated interaction effects of multimedia representation format and learner’s prior knowledge level on learning outcomes. Eighty-seven high school students with a lower or a higher level of physics prior knowledge learned about the operation of a nuclear power plant and the concepts of generating electricity by studying static graphics, an animation, or a simulation. Results indicated that the lower physics prior knowledge level students …
Enhancing goal attainment in higher education with a scripted conversational agent: Effects of monitoring and reflection support in digital learning
Contains fulltext : 324977.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)
The synergy of embodied cognition and cognitive load theory for optimized learning
Effects of Observing Urban and Natural Scenes on Working Memory Depletion and Restoration: An EEG Study
Cognitive load theory focuses on the limited capacity of working memory (WM) to encapsulate information. While the original theory postulated a fixed capacity of working memory, research in the last decade has provided evidence for the depletion hypothesis. This hypothesis holds that WM becomes depleted after effortful cognitive operations that reduce its capacity, providing a framework for the restorative effects of rest periods. Rest periods du…
Enhancing Teaching Strategies through Cognitive Load Theory: Process vs. Product Worked Examples
Based on Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), learning by studying worked examples, that is, step-by-step solutions, has been shown to reduce cognitive load and enhance learning outcomes more than learning by solving conventional problems. Two types of worked examples that have been predominantly used in well-structured learning domains include product-oriented worked examples (ProductWEs) which provide strategic information and process-oriented worked e…
The Influence of Active and Passive Procrastination on Academic Performance: A Meta-Analysis
The relationship between academic performance and procrastination has been well documented over the last twenty years. The current research aggregates existing research on this topic. Most of the studies either find no result or a small negative result. However, recent studies suggest that procrastination can have a positive influence on academic performance if the procrastination is active instead of passive. To analyse the effect of active proc…
The Effect of Self-Monitoring on Mental Effort and Problem-Solving Performance: A Mixed-Methods Study
Self-regulated learning (SRL) has become increasingly important for learners in the 21st century as they engage more frequently in student-centered education. Accurate self-monitoring of one’s learning process is central to SRL. However, research has shown that learners often struggle with monitoring accuracy. One possible explanation is that the process of self-monitoring itself may add cognitive load, potentially reducing both self-monitoring a…
“Feel free to ask”: Nudging to promote asking questions in the online classroom
Exploring the nature of peer feedback: An epistemic network analysis approach
Adaptive support for self‐regulated learning in digital learning environments
A core focus of self‐regulated learning (SRL) research lies in uncovering methods to empower learners within digital learning environments. As digital technologies continue to evolve during the current hype of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, the theoretical, empirical and methodological nuances to support SRL are emerging and offering new ways for adaptive support and guidance for learners. Such affordances offer a unique opportunity f…
Two-part onboarding for game-based learning environments
The trend of introducing game-based elements and mechanisms via game-based learning (GBL) and gamification is expanding in higher education, as is research on the elements of gamification design that contribute to their effects on learning. This paper presents a two-part onboarding process as a game-design element, analyzing its underlying mechanisms and potential effects on student learning through theoretical frameworks. First, we introduce a t…
Nudging Autonomous Learning Behavior: Three Field Experiments
Autonomous learning behavior is an important skill for students, but they often do not master it sufficiently. We investigated the potential of nudging as a teaching strategy in tertiary education to support three important autonomous learning behaviors: planning, preparing for class, and asking questions. Nudging is a strategy originating from behavioral economics used to influence behavior by changing the environment, and consists of altering t…
The Relationship between Interleaving and Variability Effects: A Cognitive Load Theory Perspective
The interleaving effect indicates that students learn better from multiple areas that are interleaved rather than blocked. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the effect is because interleaving facilitates comparisons between areas and is a variation of the variability effect that increases intrinsic cognitive load. Experiment 1 used an interleaved design with two obviously different topics and found no interleaving effect. Experiment 2 us…
Effects of mouse pointing on learning from labeled and unlabeled split-attention materials: An eye-tracking study
Learning from mutually referring but spatially separated text and picture (i.e., split-attention materials) is cognitively demanding. We investigated whether mouse pointing could support learning from split-attention materials in which the related elements between the text and picture were indicated by visual labels or not. One hundred thirty-two university students studied a text and picture about the human nervous system in one cell of a 2 (Mou…
Comparing instructional strategies to support student teachers’ learning to prepare an open-minded citizenship education lesson
Effects of instruction colour and learner empathy on aesthetic appreciation of Chinese poetry
Pupillometric and blink measures of diverse task loads: Implications for working memory models
BackgroundInconsistent observations of pupillary response and blink change in response to different specific tasks raise questions regarding the relationship between eye measures, task types and working memory (WM) models. On the one hand, studies have provided mixed evidence from eye measures about tasks: pupil size has mostly been reported to increase with increasing task demand while this expected change was not observed in some studies, and b…
Effects of finger and mouse pointing on learning from online split-attention examples
BackgroundSelf-management of cognitive load is a recent development in cognitive load theory. Finger pointing has been shown to be a potential self-management strategy to support learning from spatially separated, but mutually referring text and pictures (i.e., split-attention examples).AimsThe present study aimed to extend the prior research on the pointing strategy and investigated the effects of finger pointing on learning from online split-at…
A cross-cultural investigation on perseverance, self-regulated learning, motivation, and achievement
Research on grit indicates that perseverance positively predicts academic achievement. Yet, the mechanisms through which perseverance might lead to academic success remain less explored, particularly in cross-cultural research. The current study investigated such mechanisms by examining possible mediating effects of students’ use of self-regulated learning strategies (control, memorisation, and elaboration) on the predictive relation of students’…
Training higher education teachers for instructional design of competency-based education: Product-oriented versus process-oriented worked examples
Words in action: Using gestures to improve verb learning in primary school children
Research on embodied cognition has shown that action and language are closely intertwined. The present study seeks to exploit this relationship, by systematically investigating whether motor activation would improve eight-to-nine year old children’s learning of vocabulary in their first language. In a within-subjects paradigm, 49 children learned novel object manipulation, locomotion and abstract verbs via a verbal definition alone and in combina…
Pupillometric and blink measures of diverse task loads: Implications for working memory models
BackgroundInconsistent observations of pupillary response and blink change in response to different specific tasks raise questions regarding the relationship between eye measures, task types and working memory (WM) models. On the one hand, studies have provided mixed evidence from eye measures about tasks: pupil size has mostly been reported to increase with increasing task demand while this expected change was not observed in some studies, and b…
Effects of finger and mouse pointing on learning from online split-attention examples
BackgroundSelf-management of cognitive load is a recent development in cognitive load theory. Finger pointing has been shown to be a potential self-management strategy to support learning from spatially separated, but mutually referring text and pictures (i.e., split-attention examples).AimsThe present study aimed to extend the prior research on the pointing strategy and investigated the effects of finger pointing on learning from online split-at…
Application of an instructional systems design approach by teachers in higher education: Individual versus team design
Training strategies for attaining transfer of problem-solving skill in statistics: A cognitive-load approach.
Studied the differential effect on training performance, transfer performance, and cognitive load for 3 computer-based training strategies. The conventional, worked, and completion conditions emphasized, respectively, the solving of conventional problems, the study of worked-out problems, and the completion of partly worked-out problems. The relation between practice-problem type and transfer was expected to be mediated by cognitive load. It was …
The Efficiency of Instructional Conditions: An Approach to Combine Mental Effort and Performance Measures
This article reports on a calculational approach for combining measures of mental workload and task performance that allows one to obtain information on the relative efficiency of instructional conditions. The method is based on the standardization of raw scores for mental effort and task performance to z scores, which are displayed in a cross of axes. Relative condition efficiency is calculated as the perpendicular distance to the line that is a…
Measurement of Cognitive Load in Instructional Research
The results of two of our recent empirical studies were considered to assess the usefulness of subjective ratings and cardiovascular measures of mental effort in instructional research. Based on its reliability and sensitivity, the subjective rating-scale technique met the requirements to be useful in instructional research whereas the cardiovascular technique did not. It was concluded that the usefulness of both measurement techniques in instruc…
Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks
Variability of worked examples and transfer of geometrical problem-solving skills: A cognitive-load approach.
Four computer-based training strategies for geometrical problem solving in the domain of computer numerically controlled machinery programming were studied with regard to their effects on training performance, transfer performance, and cognitive load. A low- and a high-variability conventional condition, in which conventional practice problems had to be solved (followed by worked examples), were compared with a low- and a high-variability worked …
Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design
Effects of Distractor Load and Temporal Target-Distractor Separation on Numerical Comparison Performance: A Stimulus-Competition Approach
Effects of distractor load and temporal separation between target and distractor onset were studied in a selective attention task. Two experiments required 128 participants to decide as quickly and accurately as possible which of two spatially separated one-digit numerals was larger. Targets were either preceded or succeeded by distractors with intervals of 0, 33, 83, 133, 183, and 233 msec. In Exp. 1, the target digits could appear with 0, 1, 2,…
Cognitive Load Measurement as a Means to Advance Cognitive Load Theory
In this article, we discuss cognitive load measurement techniques with regard to their contribu-tion to cognitive load theory (CLT). CLT is concerned with the design of instructional methods that efficiently use people’s limited cognitive processing capacity to apply acquired knowledge and skills to new situations (i.e., transfer). CLT is based on a cognitive architecture that consists of a limited working memory with partly independent processin…
Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments
(2003). Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments. Educational Psychologist: Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 1-4.
Application of an instructional systems design approach by teachers in higher education: Individual versus team design
The efficiency of multimedia learning into old age
Background: On the basis of a multimodal model of working memory, cognitive load theory predicts that a multimedia‐based instructional format leads to a better acquisition of complex subject matter than a purely visual instructional format. Aims: This study investigated the extent to which age and instructional format had an impact on training efficiency among both young and old adults. It was hypothesised that studying worked examples that are p…
Cognitive Load Theory: Instructional Implications of the Interaction between Information Structures and Cognitive Architecture
Training higher education teachers for instructional design of competency-based education: Product-oriented versus process-oriented worked examples
Effects of cueing and collaboration on the acquisition of complex legal skills
Background. To overcome the teacher bandwidth problem in supporting large groups of students, both automated process support (cueing) and face‐to‐face feedback by peers during small group work (collaboration) can be provided to students. Aim. The purpose of this experimental study was to examine whether a multimedia practical containing cueing could be effectively combined with peer feedback to support the acquisition of the complex skill of prep…
Instructional Efficiency: Revisiting the Original Construct in Educational Research
This article revisits Paas and Van Merriënboer's (1993) Paas, F. and Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. 1993. The efficiency of instructional conditions: An approach to combine mental effort and performance measures. Human Factors., 35: 737–743. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] measure of instructional efficiency, which can be applied by educational researchers to compare the effects of different instructional conditions on learning. This…
A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks
Cognitive Load Theory: New Conceptualizations, Specifications, and Integrated Research Perspectives
Over the last few years, cognitive load theory has progressed and advanced rapidly. The articles in this special issue, which document those advances, are based on contributions to the 3rd International Cognitive Load Theory Conference (2009), Heerlen, The Netherlands. The articles of this special issue on cognitive load theory discuss new conceptualizations of the different categories of cognitive load, an integrated research perspective of proc…
Cognitive Load Theory
An Evolutionary Upgrade of Cognitive Load Theory: Using the Human Motor System and Collaboration to Support the Learning of Complex Cognitive Tasks
Cognitive load theory is intended to provide instructional strategies derived from experimental, cognitive load effects. Each effect is based on our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, primarily the limited capacity and duration of a human working memory. These limitations are ameliorated by changes in long-term memory associated with learning. Initially, cognitive load theory's view of human cognitive architecture was assumed to apply to …
Development of an instrument for measuring different types of cognitive load
Effects of pairs of problems and examples on task performance and different types of cognitive load
Effects of the Physical Environment on Cognitive Load and Learning: Towards a New Model of Cognitive Load
Words in action: Using gestures to improve verb learning in primary school children
Research on embodied cognition has shown that action and language are closely intertwined. The present study seeks to exploit this relationship, by systematically investigating whether motor activation would improve eight-to-nine year old children’s learning of vocabulary in their first language. In a within-subjects paradigm, 49 children learned novel object manipulation, locomotion and abstract verbs via a verbal definition alone and in combina…
Accuracy of primary school children’s immediate and delayed judgments of learning about problem-solving tasks
Accuracy of students’ judgments of learning (JOLs) plays an important role in self-regulated learning. Most studies on JOL accuracy have focused on learning word pairs and text but problems-solving tasks are also very important in education. This study investigated whether children in grade 3 could differentiate in their JOLs between problem-solving tasks that varied in complexity. Participants (N = 76, 8–10 years old) engaged in solving four ari…
Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design: 20 Years Later
Cognitive load theory was introduced in the 1980s as an instructional design theory based on several uncontroversial aspects of human cognitive architecture. Our knowledge of many of the characteristics of working memory, long-term memory and the relations between them had been well-established for many decades prior to the introduction of the theory. Curiously, this knowledge had had a limited impact on the field of instructional design with mos…
Psychology (64 works) · Computer Science (48 works) · Cognition (42 works) · Cognitive psychology (36 works) · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes (36 works) · Mathematics education (30 works) · Cognitive Load (27 works) · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods (20 works) · Developmental psychology (16 works) · Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Adaptive Learning (16 works)