Which instructional strategy is MOST effective for supporting working memory deficits?

• A. Long lectures
• B. Repetitive worksheets
• C. Chunking information
• D. Independent silent reading

Answer: (C)

Limited working memory capacity means students can hold only a small amount of new information at once. Strategies that reduce this cognitive load are most effective for deficits in working memory. Chunking information addresses this directly by grouping related items into meaningful units, so a student can treat each chunk as a single item rather than many separate pieces. This frees mental space to process other parts of the task and to connect new information with prior knowledge stored in long-term memory. For instance, presenting a multi-step procedure as a series of labeled chunks or organizing vocabulary into semantic categories with a visual organizer helps students manage and recall the steps more reliably. Other approaches that rely on long, uninterrupted lectures or silent reading place higher demands on holding many items at once and don’t simplify the load in the same way, while repetitive worksheets reinforce recall without reducing the number of items that must be held simultaneously. Chunking information thus provides the most consistent relief for working memory challenges.