Strategy Instruction Improves Learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 quant-synthesis r? · q3–q4 · i1–i2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Explicitly teaching learners cognitive and metacognitive strategies — how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking — improves learning outcomes across domains. The claim covers both domain strategies (e.g., reading comprehension strategies, problem-solving heuristics) and self-regulation strategies (goal-setting, self-monitoring, self-evaluation).

Subclaims¶

q4 i2 Across 84 intervention studies in primary and secondary school, training students in self-regulated learning produced an average effect of 0.69 on academic performance, strategy use and motivation combined, with larger effects when researchers rather than regular teachers delivered the training and in mathematics than in reading/writing. → Dignath & Büttner 2008

q3 i1 In elementary and secondary students, measured self-regulated learning is only weakly correlated with academic achievement (metacognitive processes r = 0.20; cognitive strategies r = 0.11), and the correlation varies by process, subject, grade level and how SRL and achievement are measured. → Dent & Koenka 2016

Evidence¶

Dignath & Büttner 2008¶

Dignath, C., & Büttner, G. (2008). Components of fostering self-regulated learning among students. A meta-analysis on intervention studies at primary and secondary school level. Metacognition and Learning, 3(3), 231–264. doi:10.1007/s11409-008-9029-x

q4 · meta-analysis of intervention studies · i2 · medium-to-large effect, average ES = 0.69 · n=84 studies (357 effect sizes) · quant-synthesis · r?

Two separate meta-analyses pooled self-regulated learning training studies: 49 with primary school students and 35 with secondary school students, 357 effect sizes in all. Outcomes were academic performance, strategy use and motivation, and the 0.69 average covers all three together. The abstract does not give a separate figure for achievement. Meta-regression found larger effects when researchers, not regular teachers, delivered the training, and in mathematics compared with reading/writing or other subjects. The theory behind the programme and the type of strategy taught had different effects at the two school levels. Read as abstract only.

Dent & Koenka 2016¶

Dent, A. L., & Koenka, A. C. (2016). The relation between self-regulated learning and academic achievement across childhood and adolescence: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 28(3), 425–474. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9320-8

q3 · meta-analysis of correlational studies · i1 · small correlation, r = 0.20 (metacognitive processes), r = 0.11 (cognitive strategies) · n=? · quant-synthesis · r?

Two meta-analyses of elementary and secondary school students related achievement to (1) metacognitive processes of self-regulated learning and (2) use of cognitive strategies. Both overall correlations were small: r = 0.20 for metacognitive processes and r = 0.11 for cognitive strategies. The correlations differed significantly by the specific process or strategy, academic subject, grade level, type of SRL measure and type of achievement measure. This is the correlational arm of the claim. It supports a real but modest association, not a causal effect. The number of studies was not in the abstract. Read as abstract only.

Discussion¶

Scope. "Strategy instruction" is a family of practices, not a single technique. It includes domain-specific strategies (e.g., summarization, self-questioning, graphic organizers for reading comprehension; worked-example study and heuristic prompts for problem solving) and general self-regulation strategies (goal-setting, planning, self-monitoring, self-evaluation) — see Self-regulated learning improves academic achievement.. Effects are strongest when strategies are taught explicitly, modeled, and practiced with feedback rather than merely described [~M].

Moderators and boundary conditions. Benefits depend on sustained, embedded practice: one-off strategy talks produce little transfer, while extended programs with modeling, guided practice, and fading show durable gains [~M]. Strategy instruction also interacts with learner characteristics — novices benefit most from highly structured, step-by-step strategy training, while more advanced learners may find heavy scaffolding redundant (an expertise-reversal pattern consistent with cognitive load theory) [~M]. Transfer is stronger when learners are prompted to apply strategies in varied tasks and when instruction includes conditional knowledge (when and why to use a strategy), not just procedural steps [~M].

Constraints. Strategy instruction fails or backfires under identifiable conditions. When strategies are taught as procedures without conditional knowledge, learners apply them indiscriminately or abandon them once support is withdrawn [~M]. For learners who already use effective strategies spontaneously, additional strategy training adds load without benefit and can depress performance — the same expertise-reversal pattern seen with worked examples [~M]. Short, decontextualized interventions (a single lesson on "study skills") show negligible transfer to real coursework [-M]. And when strategy training consumes time that would go to domain content without being integrated into that content, gains on strategy measures do not translate into domain achievement [-W].

Open questions. The evidence recorded above concerns self-regulated learning strategy training in primary and secondary school; other domains and learner ages are not covered here.

Related Claims¶

• Self-regulated learning improves academic achievement. — strategy instruction is a primary lever for building SRL skills
• Cognitive load reduction improves learning. — strategies offload working memory during complex tasks
• Annotating improves learning. — a concrete, teachable reading strategy
• Advance organizers improve learning. — an orienting strategy that structures incoming information
• Cognitive load theory. — explains why strategy scaffolds help novices but burden experts
• Metacognitive Strategies Improve Learning — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Prompting learners to self-explain improves understanding and problem solving on immediate tests by a moderate average amount, with little evidence yet on delayed or classroom gains. — related
• Metacognitive strategy instruction, which includes comprehension monitoring, improves academic performance by a medium amount, and in one non-randomised study comprehension-monitoring training raised low achievers' reading scores — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Self Regulated Learning Predicts Achievement — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Strategy Instruction Improves Academic Performance — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Strategy Instruction Needs Conditional Knowledge — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Students showed deficiencies in maintaining and monitoring their reading plan within the three-element view of metacognition — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Enriched DLP data enable two types of theory testing: sustained observation of individuals in a single setting and modeling the same type of learner across contexts — related
• Teaching reflective questioning or using graphical representations improves procedural and conceptual knowledge across diverse populations — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Learning through the experience of solving problems can build both content knowledge and thinking strategies — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Self-instruction techniques yielded the highest mean effect size (2.71) among self-management intervention types, with self-monitoring the predominant technique used — related
• A 50-minute metacognitive strategy instruction produced positive effects on secondary students' fluency, flexibility and originality of ideas in both cohorts — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• General problem-solving heuristics used in controlled conscious problem solving are biologically secondary skills requiring explicit learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Metacognitive prompts improve learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Video modeling training of self-assessment and task-selection skills improves secondary students' problem-solving performance after a self-regulated learning phase — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The pooled effect of self-regulated learning does not differ significantly by school level — related
• Combining a structured learning diary with instruction on self-regulated learning increased students' strategy use and self-efficacy — related
• A daily learning diary alone (Group D) did not produce statistically significant pre-post gains on any measured outcome in an online mathematics preparation course — related
• Keeping a structured learning diary without further intervention did not improve university students' self-regulation — related
• Elementary teachers more often instruct cognitive strategies than metacognitive strategies during a standardized lesson — related
• Pedagogical interventions and scaffolds increase learners' use of self-regulated reading strategies — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Self-regulated reading processes are positively associated with reading and learning outcomes — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Advanced learners may benefit from learner-controlled selection of learning tasks and levels of generality — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Generating questions is effective for university students but likely ineffective for younger elementary students, working at intermediate ages only with instructional scaffolding — related
• SRL strategy interventions improve academic achievement, with meta-analytic effects that vary by domain — a narrower finding that bears on this claim