Welcome to Praxis trifft Evidenz. In this episode we will talk about an uncomfortable truth. The memory of our students and our own life is smaller than we often take in class. Imagine a typical situation. You explain a new task. You say, please take your math notebook, write the date, then the signature, then edit number 3 to love in still work, but leave a limit at 5b, because we will discuss this together afterwards. And think about it, first write, then check in the notebook. At the latest, after the third assignment, the memory of many children is full. What then turns out is not lacking motivation, but simply limited capacity. From memory research we know that memory of work can only keep a few information units active at the same time. These are more like 3-4 chunks or information units instead of 7 individual elements. This information must also be processed compared combined make decisions. And while eating, new interests are permanently added in the classroom. Sounds, classmates, their gestures, the foil on the board. And here is the crux. For children who are just learning to read or write half of the capacity for the decryption of letters and words must be used before anything can be processed in detail. This means we are in the middle of the cognitive load theory. The intrinsic load, i.e. the load, depends on the complexity of the substance. A simple circuit of current is cognitively cheaper than the resistance cube. The extrinsic load is created by their representation, e.g. unclear foils, too many steps at once or confusing examples. And the germane load is the good exhaust the energy that actually flows into the construction of schemata. The bad news is that they can't train the capacity of the memory of work at all. The good news is that as a teacher you can control a lot about what this capacity is used for. Here are a few practical consequences. First, one message after the other. If you give work assignments, you make them portable. For example you say first get material then read a task then work together on an example then give a start signal. And leave the instructions on the board on the foil in the digital classroom. Anyone who gets off shortly can dock again without interrupting them. Second, support chunking. You can help the children to bundle information into meaningful units. In math this could mean understanding the unit first then marking the given and the sought-after then thinking about the way to the account. When reading first write a text then fly over text then answer specific questions. It is important that you keep naming these chunks the same. Then they become schemata in the long term memory and relieve the memory of work. Avoid unnecessary excitement. Extrinsic load consumes resources without any learning goal. For example full-staffed foil clip-art thunderstorms loud music during the introduction or three different representations on one side. A Lego Christmas man next to the vocabulary exercise may look nice but does not help with learning the preterite forms and even disturbs in doubt. Fourth, check the split attention effect. Do students have to switch between paper workbook board picture and you all the time? Cognitive energy is the only thing that is used for coordination. Wherever possible, you bring together text and picture. Examples right next to the task. And you keep important additional information not only verbal but also visible. Fifth, you set on scaffolding instead of over-request. Reflex tasks have their rights but only if basic steps are automated. Let them practice simple part processes until they are in a good position. Use worked examples. These are completely calculated examples that you analyze backwards together. Gradually build up aid positions. This is called fading when you realize that the class no longer needs the support. Finally, a brief reflex impulse for you. Think back to your last hour. What was the greatest danger that the work memory of your students was overloaded? Was it at the introduction, at the task position or maybe at the board picture? Imagine one thing that you can relieve more consistently in the next lesson. That could be less text, a clearer structure or a visualized sequence of steps. That was practice meets evidence on the subject of work memory in the classroom. In the next episode we will look at how knowledge is organized in the head and what schemata, scripts and mental models have to do with good teaching.