Turkish adaptation and psychometric evaluation of cognitive load scale for middle school students

A psychological theory called the Cognitive Load Theory attempts to explain behavioral or psychological issues that emerge during instruction. The purpose of this study was to translate the cognitive load scale developed by Leppink et al. (2013) into Turkish and to analyze the validity, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender of the Turkish version for middle school students. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the scale, algebra worked-out questions for 7th graders were used as an instructional task. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with 336 students (69.6% female, 30.4% male). The model showed a good fit (χ 2 (30) = 39.826, p < .001; R-CFI = 0.993; R-TLI = 0.990; R-RMSEA = 0.037, 90% CI [0.000–0.066]), and the results of CFA provided evidence for construct validity of measurement for the Turkish sample, measuring intrinsic, extraneous, and germane load. The three-factor structure was confirmed with high reliability coefficients, and the scale demonstrated measurement invariance across gender. The results of criterion validity analyses showed statistically significant relationships among variables having low to moderate correlation coefficients. • The Turkish form of the CL scale is a valid and reliable multidimensional tool. • The Turkish CL scale is invariant across gender among middle schoolers. • It is important to measure the CL of students for designing instructional materials.