Targeted to Intermediate English (B1+) speakers.Read more
This is the standard requirement for most courses. Participants at this level can participate actively in discussions and manage everyday and professional situations. If they are unsure about their English level, they can test it here or explore our courses facilitated in Basic English.
Cross-Curricular.Read more
The listed audiences are those for whom the course is especially recommended, but courses are not exclusive to them and are open to everyone. In fact, most of our workshops are built around the collective sharing of participants’ experiences and having a variety of profiles enriches the learning process and is highly encouraged!
Description
In today’s classrooms, teachers face growing challenges, also due to the constant distraction of smartphones and social media.
Students’ attention span is dropping: they lose focus, misunderstand instructions, struggle to complete tasks, or give up when learning feels too demanding.
Behind many of these difficulties lies a mechanism that remains largely invisible to educators: we’re talking about cognitive overload.
When learning demands exceed the brain’s working memory capacity, students do not simply struggle: they shut down, fall behind, and in the most serious cases, drop out.
This course will introduce participants to Cognitive Load Theory (CLT): a practical framework to understand how the brain processes and stores new information.
Rather than focusing mainly on theory, it will show how lesson structure, tasks, instructions, materials, and everyday routines can be designed to support better and more inclusive and active learning.
In fact, the goal is to equip educators with practical, evidence-based strategies that explore the three types of cognitive load — intrinsic, extraneous, and germane — and connect them directly to everyday classroom practice.
The course focuses on questions teachers regularly face: How can I make instructions easier to follow? How can I reduce overload without oversimplifying?
Throughout the week, participants will engage with CLT through hands-on activities such as the Brain Hat model and Jigsaw reading tasks.
They will analyze real classroom situations through specific case studies to identify the behavioural, emotional, and learning indicators of cognitive overload.
Participants will also collaboratively create classroom activities – including scaffolded tasks, visual supports, worked examples, and chunking strategies – and take part in an outdoor class session that models how varied learning environments can reduce cognitive effort.
Finally, participants will discover metacognitive tools to teach their own students how to manage their cognitive load independently.
By the end of the course, participants will have a clear, practical understanding of CLT and the confidence to apply it immediately in their classrooms.
They will be able to recognize when students are overloaded and respond with targeted strategies – redesigning tasks, adapting instructions, and building routines that reduce cognitive effort without lowering standards.
They will leave with a personalised toolkit of ready-to-use inclusive activities, a redesigned lesson plan tailored to their own students’ needs, and the skills to teach students to become more autonomous, organised, and resilient learners.
In doing so, they will be better equipped to address the disengagement, absenteeism, and school desertion that cognitive overload so often drives.
What is included
Learning outcomes
The course will help participants to:
- Understand the core principles of CLT (intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load) in clear and practical terms;
- Recognize behavioural, emotional, and academic signs of cognitive overload in students;
- Analyze the impact of digital distractions (e.g., smartphones, multitasking, social media) on attention and learning;
- Design inclusive and cognitively accessible lessons that reduce unnecessary load while maintaining high expectations;
- Apply concrete classroom strategies such as scaffolding, chunking, worked examples, and visual supports;
- Redesign existing lesson plans using CLT principles;
- Teach students practical metacognitive strategies to help them manage their own cognitive load;
- Implement approaches that improve engagement, reduce overload, and contribute to lower absenteeism and school disengagement.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Introduction to the course
- Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities.
- Icebreaker activities.
- Presentations of the participants’ schools.
Foundations of cognitive load theory
- Introduction to CLT and its relevance for classroom practice;
- The three types of cognitive load: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane;
- Teaching situations in which students may feel overloaded.
Day 2 – Understanding cognitive overload in today’s classroom
- How does the brain work when learning?;
- Cognitive overload: causes and consequences;
- How to recognise cognitive overload in students (behavioural, emotional, and learning indicators);
- The impact of smartphones, social media, and multitasking on cognitive load and attention.
Day 3 – Designing inclusive learning with CLT
- How to avoid overloading students in daily practice;
- Designing lessons and coursework using CLT principles;
- Adapting content, instructions, and tasks for more inclusive learning;
- Reducing extraneous load while maintaining high expectations.
Day 4 – Practical classroom strategies – outdoor class
- Managing emotions, learning processes, and time through CLT;
- Exploring practical strategies such as scaffolded tasks, chunking, sequencing, visual supports, and worked examples;
- Building routines that reduce unnecessary cognitive effort;
- Outdoor activity: experiencing how varied learning environments can support focus and reduce overload;
- Collaborative work on classroom-ready activities.
Day 5 – Empowering students and course outcomes
- Teaching students strategies to manage their own cognitive load;
- Metacognitive tools for attention, organisation, and learning;
- Linking CLT to long-term engagement and motivation.
Day 6 – Course closure and cultural activities
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
- Excursion and other external cultural activities.
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