EXPLORING CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ AWARENESS AND APPLICATION OF COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

Chemistry teaching and learning are often regarded as difficult. Several studies have explored the causes of this difficulty and demonstrated that students struggle with chemistry because of the high cognitive demands it places on them, combined with their limited working memory capacity to process such information. These studies also suggest that chemistry can be made easier for learners when instructors consider the cognitive load theory in their instructional design. According to the cognitive load theory, humans' working memory has limited capacity; therefore, for effective learning to take place, the amount of information provided should not exceed this capacity. The theory offers opportunities for chemistry instructors to develop effective instructions that reduce learners' cognitive load, thereby improving learning outcomes. This study examined senior high school chemistry teachers’ perceptions of the cognitive load theory. A descriptive cross-sectional survey method was used to gather data from 94 senior high school chemistry teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis, selected via a census. A questionnaire was adapted as the main tool for data collection. Descriptive statistics were utilised to analyse the responses. The findings revealed that 76.3% of senior high school chemistry teachers had low familiarity with and application of the cognitive load theory. It is therefore recommended that professional development programmes related to the cognitive load theory be implemented to improve teachers’ understanding and application of the concept.