Editorial: (Ir)Relevance in education: individuals as navigators of dynamic information landscapes
Involve (1) surface features, such as colour or shape, (2) visual/auditory/tactile attractiveness, (3) information source, (4) intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load (i.e., the load induced by the complexity of the learning materials and the instruction-induced load, respectively; Chen et al., 2023), and (5) the relationships between concurrently available components of information (e.g., the foreground to the background, the colorful to the black-and-white). The individual-level processes rely on (1) individual goals and meaning ascribed to given information, (2) cognitive processes such as stimulus-driven (bottom-up) and goal-directed (top-down) attention, working memory, and longterm memory, (3) germane cognitive load (the amount of cognitive resources, e.g., working memory, devoted to the task at hand; Korbach et al., 2017), (4) metacognitive processes, (5) previous experience, (6) affect, (7) motivation, and ( 8) attitudes. The context of information relevance comprises a myriad of features that are not embedded within the goal-driven activity, but nevertheless influence individual performance, such as (1) time constraints and (2) the sociocultural background of learners, teachers, and researchers. Of note, information relevance changes dynamically, that is, hinges not only on individual goals, but also on the outcomes of individual actions that preceded the present instance in which the individual is judging information relevance.Numerous theoretical accounts of information relevance were conceived over the last century of psychological, educational, and computer science research, spanning decision making and judgment, attention and memory, critical information literacy, problem solving, and other. Some of these accounts, such as Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 2011), Self-Regulated Learning (Panadero, 2017), Leont'ev's Activity Theory (Leont'ev, 1979), or Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Media (Moreno, 2005), guided the research presented in the Research Topic, partly overlapping with Figure 1. To our best knowledge, however, no theory has, to date, comprehensively accounted for all aspects of information relevance. Hopefully, the present Editorial and the Research Topic will inspire drafting and testing such novel, comprehensive theories that are yet to be developed.The Désiron and Schneider examined how high school and university students responded to colorful design when dealing with relevant information. The study built upon the Cognitive Load Theory, the Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Media, and the Emotional Design Hypothesis to assess whether colorful design correlated with higher learning outcomes, and whether contrasting colors further lowered cognitive load. The results suggested that colorful designs indeed correlated with higher performance, and that color contrast lowered the participant-perceived extraneous but not the intrinsic cognitive load.Greeves and Oz looked into differences in relevance judgments of YouTube videos between college instructors and students. Despite several similarities across groups, such as prioritizing video accuracy, content creators' expertise, or video duration, the students seemed to value additional features that would suggest community support for the content and the creator far more than the instructors.Leclerq et al. employed analogical card sorting tasks to examine whether 4-to 6-year-old preschoolers could learn to use self-cueing strategies such as labeling and pointing to transfer rules across these tasks. In line with expectations, children trained on such strategies were more likely to spontaneously use them on the analogical task.Lederer et al. assessed judging relevance of anecdotal, correlational, and experimental evidence in causal reasoning in preservice teachers and psychology students. Despite typical differences in methodological training across educational and psychological study programs, the authors found comparable performance levels across the two groups.Rhodes et al. offered a new perspective on relevance of problem solving tasks by highlighting the importance of sociocultural factors on the researcher's and the participant's side. The authors recommended a checklist for researchers who wish to develop new problem solving tasks.("what?"), subject ("for whom?"), asserter ("according to whom?), and a purpose ("to what end?") when examining the relevance of learning key mathematical concepts for high school students. Despite initial low levels of self-perceived relevance of such concepts, the students who participated in the study were shown to assert the relevance of the key concepts after learning about real-life applications and using their own imagination.The present Research Topic offers a broad outlook on information relevance judgments in educational and professional settings, but it suffered some limitations. Future research on information relevance should aim at developing comprehensive theoretical frameworks of information relevance, increasingly involve both young and aging participants, not only students and beginner professionals, and foster relevant collaborations beyond the WEIRD context.