https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3mk8g-102b2c7
John Sweller is Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and is probably best know for his work on Cognitive Load Theory. He is also one of Greg Ashman’s PhD supervisors. In this episode, John talks to Greg about the development of Cognitive Load Theory, its implications and some of the common criticisms levelled at the theory. Along the way, they discuss biologically primary and biologically secondary knowledge as well as their thoughts on the draft new Australian Curriculum.
Filling the pail 
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I listened to it.
1. He makes the comment (a good one) that you can put the general problem solver types on their back foot by asking them their strategies.
But I wonder what you/he think of Polya (How to Solve It and Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning). Polya might be wrong (I know an Olympiad coach who said it was useless), but he wouldn’t be caught flatfooted. Had taken the time to think about an answer…things like “draw a picture”, “rewrite the question”, “look at surrounding problems for clues”, etc.
2. I think part of the appeal of the discovery based learning is the idea of struggle building memory. Like if I can benchpress 200#, I build my muscles by pressing some fair amount of that one time maximum. That I won’t get benefits from pressing 5#.
Now I would argue that repeating a math example actually DOES still engage struggle. And even here, it may make sense to be gradual (maybbe the first time consulting the text, the second time not consulting it and then working drill problems that are harder at higher numbers (most drill sections are organized in this fashion).
I think what the IBL advocates unconsciously assume is that drill is easier than it is. It actually still has useful struggle. Not sure how to quantify that thought…
3. I have some Feynman thoughts also. He was actually a big drill advocate. But he would sometimes try to break things down on his own, in his own words, to get wrapped around a new idea. And I suspect there was some value in this activity.