Term 1, Week 8, 2026

Let’s do a quick review. In my previous posts, I have been unpacking The Science of Learning which is the research that underpins our new curriculum. In the last one, I wrote about reducing cognitive load for students in the classroom and in particular, extraneous load which are the distractions in the learning environment. I listed some of the strategies the teachers at FBS use to minimise these distractions, for example practiced routines and expectations which create a predictable and calm classroom.

Today I am touching on intrinsic load which is the load associated with the learning task itself and the level of complexity within it. It is about getting the learning task just right. Not too hard and not too easy for the students.

In our classrooms our teachers optimise intrinsic load by doing the following:-

• Maximising the time spent on explicitly teaching students in a directed and guided way.
• Structuring their teaching by breaking down content into small manageable chunks.
• Providing fully guided instruction which looks like high levels of guidance when students are at the beginning of the learning process and withdrawing this guidance when students are ready to progress.
• Providing a fully-worked problem which has already been solved for the student, showing each step explained clearly.
• Supporting parts of the learning to become automatic, for example knowing facts to 10 automatically will help the learner solve number problems and takes the load off this task.
• Embedding questioning and tasks during the teaching, to constantly check for student understanding and responding in the moment with any corrections needed.

Our teachers at FBS are continually working at aligning their practice with the science of learning and are motivated to do so because of the positive difference we have noticed in student progress.