Learning Strategies In The Classroom By Tim Seifert (1993), MUN

Learning strategies in the classroom by Tim Seifert (1993), MUN Retrieved January 9, 2008 from: http://www.mun.ca/educ/faculty/mwatch/vol2/seifert.html Notes by Dr. D. Gosse, Nipissing University

Several criteria must be met in order for learning to occur, according to cognitive theories:  Students must attend to the information to be learned  Students must identify or create relationships among the –to-be-learned ideas  Students must relate the new ideas to prior knowledge  Student must understand that learning requires mental effort—good learners are strategic, poor learners are not

Seifert identifies several strategies to enhance memory and comprehension that are usable in most all study areas. Furthermore, these strategies are proven to enhance performance of students requiring remedial assistance across a wide spectrum of variables (such as age and SES):

Representational Imagery: can be used to remember facts (e.g. adolescent learners experience growth spurts and may feel awkward at times) and with extended prose (e.g. In Ancient Greece, King Pygmalion longer for a companion. He created a beautiful statue that encompassed all the feminine ideals of his time…” Older student in particular have been shown to benefit from this type of imagery training. Imagery may work due to two reasons in dual coding theory. First, we use a verbal system for representing and thinking about language. Second, we also use a non-verbal, largely visual system for processing information. By including illustrations with texts, elaborating on illustrations, or creating illustrations with texts or explanations, then both systems are activated and learning may be enhanced.

There are two steps in mental imagery:  Read the information to be remembered  Make a picture of that information in your head

Elaborative interrogation: involves reading a fact to be remembered and then asking Why would that be true? Then try to generate an answer.

e.g. “Cognitive theories of learning and comprehension enhance may student success … why is this true?...Cognitive theories of learning and comprehension enhance learning for several reasons. First, student must attend to the new information to be learned. Second, they must create links between the new information to be learned. Third, they must relate the new information to prior knowledge. Finally, they make mental effort and must be strategic.

For example, theme is the main idea, lesson, or moral is a short story, poem or novel. The theme of Dangerous Minds might be “Believe in your students and they may surprise you.” To get students to relate this to pay heed to this we might (1) watch a video clip from movies, (2) to get them to create links and relate to

1 their prior knowledge, I may then ask them to reflect on their own experiences growing up and also on an inspiring teacher-student movie. Then they write a reflective paragraph.”

The steps for elaborative interrogation are:  Read the fact to be remembered  Turn the fact into a question  Answer the why question

Acronyms: a series of letters that spell a word (or something like a word) with each letter representing another word. For example, OCT mean the Ontario College of Teachers, OSSTF means the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ federation, and OASAR mean the Ontario Association for Students at Risk...another example I use if a phonetic variation on the German word for cheese to remember the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy i.e. KCAASE for knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. A variation of acronyms is the acronymic sentence. Again, in order to remember Bloom’s Taxonomy, try: Kind Children Always Allow Smiles and Enthusiasm.

Acronyms work because they reduce a lot of information into more manageable chunks. Also, they help us organize information in meaningful ways. To create an acronymic sentence, follow these steps:  List the names of words  Make a list of the first letter of each name of word  Create words that start with those letters and try to arrange them into a sentence  Ensure the sentence make sense  Practice remembering what the 1st letter of each words represents

Keyword method: useful learning and remembering scientific words, foreign vocabulary, and associating an object with its attributes. Follow these steps:  Identify the to-be-learned pair  Think of a familial word that sound similar  Create an image that depicts the new familiar keyword with meaning, definition, or attribute  Practice remembering the words, meaning, definition, or object-sttribute by recalling the image

e.g. to remember the meaning of the Pygmalion theory, you might picture a muddy, farm animal pig who gets a makeover into Miss Piggy….thereby, remembering that the Pygmalion Theory entails transformation through expectations into something new and improved.

e.g. to remember hidden curriculum, you might picture school children digging up a treasure chest. Once opened, words such as racism, homophobia, sexism, control and prejudice float away from the chest. Hidden Curriculum then may be remembered as not the official curriculum documents, rules and routine of the classroom and school,

2 but rather the unofficial agenda, rules and routines that occur in the hallways and may be often unspoken, invisible, or under-acknowledged.

Summarizing: can enhance memory for main ideas contained in prose. Students must read a passage and then write a sentence that describes what the prose was about. Summarizing works because it induces students attend to and create linkages between main concepts and ideas. Students must follow these steps:  Read the passage  Identify the main idea or ideas  Write a sentence that describes the main idea or ideas in your own words  Combine summary sentences from paragraphs to form a section or chapter summary

e.g. consult your Class Notes on Differentiating Instruction. Create a one sentence summary of these notes, such as “Differentiated learning involves attempting to vary instructional strategies/learning activities in order to appeal to the diverse learning in your classes, entailing creating a nurturing learning environment and climate, using a variety of assessment and evaluation tools, incorporating MI, and experimenting with various groupings.”

Concept mapping (also called webbing, mind mapping, or creating visual organizers): can help students understand complex ideas and prose, and may be used in any subject , including science, English, math, and physical education. Concept mapping works because it requires students to identify main ideas and link these together in an organized way. These linkages are then represented visually, which further enhances memory. Student must follow these steps:  Read the passage  Identify main concepts  Arrange them according to how they relate to each other  Draws lines or arrows to show linkages  You may label the lines if you wish e.g. Double Bubble Map for Comparison

3 Teacher behaviour: teachers must be purposeful in how they design their lessons and guide students to use these metacognitive strategies or techniques. There are three ways to do this: a) Teacher provides the content is a form that promotes strategic processing. For instance, the teacher provides illustrations to promote imagery training, suggests an acronym, or uses elaborative interrogation as part of their questioning repertoire. b) Teacher provides assignments that require students to employ metacognitive techniques. For instance, the teacher will have the consolidation/check for learning and/or application activity to entail representational imagery, elaborative interrogation, acronyms, the keyword method, summarizing, or concept mapping. c) A more subtle way is through teacher comments. The teacher and prompt students throughout the lecture component to engage in metacognitive strategies. e.g. picture King Pygmalion in your head. He’s very lonely as he sculpts away. Why did Aphrodite take pity on him? Think of the metaphor here for your own teaching. Now picture a difficult student you’ve taught.

Student behaviour: students may become more strategic through direct instruction, self- instruction and reciprocal instruction: a) Direct instruction: explicitly teach these strategies to a student or students. Explain the strategy to them and then get them to apply and practice it. Give feedback and guidance. b) Self-instruction: explanation, guided practice and independent practice. However, self-instruction involves a think aloud process. The adult verbalizes his/her process as she engages in one of these strategies, followed by the student doing the same. c) Reciprocal teaching: refers to small group instruction. The teacher and students take turns explaining and modelling the strategies while trying to learn some new content. The ongoing dialogue and feedback abets mastery of the strategies.