Cognitive Offloading in Mathematics at school: The role of external representations and digital tools in problem solving and thinking

The aim of this paper is to study the cognitive offloading in mathematics at school by following a critical narrative review method. External representations and digital tools used during solving mathematical problems are the major focuses of this paper. The Cognitive offloading is defined as the use of external actions, representations & tools to regulate the cognitive demands of a task. In maths, the cognitive load required in the processing of information can be shifted from the student's mind to the external media by writing down the various intermediate steps, creating diagrams and tables and using physical manipulatives, calculators, dynamic geometry software or application and various AI tools. This paper studies the evidence from cognitive science, mathematics education and educational technology to find out that when offloading supports learning and when it hinders the learning. Studies have clearly shown that working memory is strongly linked to math problems-solving and well-designed external tools can be helpful for students to organize the information, understand relationships and manage complex or lengthy tasks.