Finally, teaching learning strategies are “heuristics that serve to support students, facilitating the development of internal procedures that enable them to perform the higher-level procedures” (Van de Grift, 2007). Teaching learning strategies suggest that teachers support the use of metacognitive strategies in their classroom teaching. Metacognitive strategies provide a framework to help students achieve higher level of learning skills (Carnine et al., 1998). One way of supporting the use of metacognitive strategies is scaffolding. Scaffolding is a form of temporary support provided by teachers (or by peer students) that function as a bridge between students’ existing and desired skills. Research shows that teachers who display modelling explicitly, deliver scaffolding and provide corrective feedback, contribute to the learning performance of their students significantly (Good & Brophy, 1989; Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986; Slavin, 1996; Houtveen & Van de Grift, 2007; Hattie & Clinton, 2008; Smith et al., 2008).
Teachers should state during the lesson which learning strategies they use. They should offer students suggestions so that they can regulate their own learning process. They should question students about the learning strategies they use and coach them by giving advice about refining their strategy or expanding their repertoire somewhat. Coaching is aimed at the meta-cognitive skills: orienting on the study task, setting one’s learning goals, planning and organizing one’s learning, carrying out the plan, monitoring the progress, checking, correcting and evaluating the learning process in relation to the goals set.
This domain consists of six items, pertaining to the following subjects:
- simplifying complex problems
- stimulating the use of control activities
- teaching students to check their solutions
- promoting the application of that which has been learned
- encouraging critical thinking
- letting students think about strategies by approach
What are learning strategies?
Learning strategies are strategies that students can use to self-direct their learning process. They contribute to students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) and have been linked to better student learning and performance. Learning strategies include cognitive strategies such as selecting and organizing the information, rehearsing the content (aimed at memorization), and elaboration (aimed at better understanding and integrating the information). In addition, students may use metacognitive strategies to monitor and regulate their own thought processes. Metacognitive strategies include strategies such as orienting on a task, planning how to process the task, monitoring the learning process and reflecting on outcomes. Lastly, there are resource management strategies including seeking help from other people and time-management.
How do teachers teach learning strategies?
There are different ways teachers may address learning strategies in their teaching. First, they may use direct instruction about how, when and why to use these strategies. Moreover, more indirect teaching methods like modelling the use of learning strategies (i.e. providing an example by using learning strategies and modeling this process out loud), scaffolding, and using hints or cues to remind students of using the strategies (for instance on a poster, a cue card, or as pop-ups in computer programs) have proven to be useful.
Learning strategies in ICALT
In the ICALT observation scheme, there is an item on asking students to directly reflect on their learning strategies. Furthermore, simplifying complex problems is a (cognitive) problem solving strategy that is useful for different subjects, as are the metacognitive strategies of using control activities and checking solutions. Critical thinking is related to metacognition and providing examples and reflecting on outcomes also includes elaborating on the content. Applying what has been learned to different contexts requires students to have a high level of understanding of the content and is in that sense a useful learning strategy promoting transfer. In the ICALT instrument, rehearsal strategies, resource management strategies and goal-setting strategies are not measured.
Examples of teaching learning strategies
- In a lesson about comprehensive reading, a teacher models strategies by thinking aloud about what the title means, about what the task requirements are and how she plans to find the answers to the questions.
- In a mathematics lesson, students work with cue cards that remind them to solve complex problems by carefully reading and analyzing the problem, exploring what type of calculation is needed, and devising and executing a calculation plan.
- A science teacher shows students how they can check for themselves whether an answer is likely to be correct by working backwards starting with the answer.
- A language teacher gives students the assignment to group words with comparable characteristics and to organize and rehearse them by writing them down in two rows.
- A geography teacher explains that students can use acronyms to remember facts. For instance to remember the names of the five Great Lakes in the United States with the acronym HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
- A math teacher models how he remembers multiplication tables by practicing them aloud in combination with movements.
- Students work in pairs and question each other about the main idea’s in the text.
- An arts teacher explains how students can notice they need help with their arts project and what they can do if this is the case.
- A history teacher models how he asks himself questions while he reads a text about the Great War.
- A teacher uses posters or cue cards to remind students about using learning strategies (see pictures).
Best practices
In the near future, a video will be displayed here to explain learning strategies.
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