Strategy-level training programs that educate learners about desirable difficulties and the effort-learning paradox¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

At the strategy level, the S2D2 framework recommends small-group or online learning strategy training programs that educate learners about strategy effectiveness and the paradoxical relation between effort, perceived learning, and actual learning in desirable difficulties. The article states these programs "educate learners about the effect of learning strategies, and (in)directly address the paradoxical relation between perceived effort, perceived learning, and actual learning in desirable difficulties." Such programs are mostly effective at getting learners to start using desirable difficulties.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Programs depend on teachers or mentors who endorse the importance of and understand how to teach the use of desirable difficulties

Constraints¶

• Debunking misbeliefs about effort and learning costs time and may lead to resistance in students who hold strong idiosyncratic beliefs

Target Learners¶

• adolescent and adult learners in self-study contexts

Target Learning Goals¶

• accurate strategy knowledge and willingness to start using desirably difficult learning strategies

Affordances¶

• S2D2 Framework Desirable Difficulties

Claims¶

• Perceived effort directly predicts use of retrieval practice, with perceived learning playing no role (Relation 1) [+W]
• Perceived effort is higher and perceived learning lower for interleaving than blocking, and experience-mediated increases in perceived learning raise interleaving choices [+W]
• Effort ratings correlate negatively with judgments of learning (r = −0.355), but the correlation disappears under a goal-driven interpretation of effort [+W]
• Individual performance feedback leads to more long-term choices for retrieval practice than general instruction on its benefits [~W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Anique B. H. de Bruin, Felicitas Biwer, Luotong Hui, Erdem Onan, Louise David, Wisnu Wiradhany. (2023). Worth the Effort: the Start and Stick to Desirable Difficulties (S2D2) Framework. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09766-w