Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design in a Multimedia Context

Biologically Primary And Biologically Secondary Knowledge

Geary (2007) divides knowledge into biologically primary knowledge that we have evolved to acquire easily and automatically and biologically secondary knowledge that relies on primary knowledge but that we have not evolved to acquire. Examples of activities driven by primary knowledge are listening and speaking our first language, recognising faces, using general problem solving techniques and engaging in basic social relations. We have evolved over millennia to acquire massive amounts of knowledge associated with these activities easily, quickly and without conscious effort. We can acquire biologically primary knowledge simply by being immersed in a normal human society. Explicit instruction is unnecessary.

In contrast, biologically secondary knowledge tends to be associated with a more advanced stage of development of civilization. It has only been required since the rise of civilisation and so we have not evolved to acquire specific examples of biologically secondary knowledge. We can acquire such knowledge using biologically primary knowledge but it is acquired relatively slowly and with conscious effort. In contrast to biologically primary knowledge, biologically secondary knowledge requires explicit instruction and conscious effort on the part of learners. The bulk of knowledge acquired in educational institutions such as schools consists of biologically secondary knowledge.

Human Cognitive Architecture When Dealing With Biologically Secondary Knowledge

There is a basic logic associated with the acquisition of biologically secondary knowledge and that logic is identical to the logic that underlies the processes of evolution by natural selection. Both are examples of natural information processing systems (Sweller & Sweller, 2006). There are many ways of describing that logic. In this chapter we will use five basic principles.