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How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users
In order to ensure long-term retention of information students must move from relying on surface-level approaches that are seemingly effective in the short-term to “building in” so called “desirable difficulties,” with the aim of achieving understanding and long-term retention of the subject matter....
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302009/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30618932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02501 |
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author | Rovers, Sanne F. E. Stalmeijer, Renée E. van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G. Savelberg, Hans H. C. M. de Bruin, Anique B. H. |
author_facet | Rovers, Sanne F. E. Stalmeijer, Renée E. van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G. Savelberg, Hans H. C. M. de Bruin, Anique B. H. |
author_sort | Rovers, Sanne F. E. |
collection | PubMed |
description | In order to ensure long-term retention of information students must move from relying on surface-level approaches that are seemingly effective in the short-term to “building in” so called “desirable difficulties,” with the aim of achieving understanding and long-term retention of the subject matter. But how can this level of self-regulation be achieved by students when learning? Traditionally, research on learning strategy use is performed using self-report questionnaires. As this method is accompanied by several drawbacks, we chose a qualitative, in-depth approach to inquire about students' strategies and to investigate how students successfully self-regulate their learning. In order to paint a picture of effective learning strategy use, focus groups were organized in which previously identified, effectively self-regulating students (N = 26) were asked to explain how they approach their learning. Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology, a model was constructed describing how effective strategy users manage their learning. In this model, students are driven by a personal learning goal, adopting a predominantly qualitative, or quantitative approach to learning. While learning, students are continually engaged in active processing and self-monitoring. This process is guided by a constant balancing between adhering to established study habits, while maintaining a sufficient degree of flexibility to adapt to changes in the learning environment, assessment demands, and time limitations. Indeed, students reported using several strategies, some of which are traditionally regarded as “ineffective” (highlighting, rereading etc.). However, they used them in a way that fit their learning situation. Implications are discussed for the incorporation of desirable difficulties in higher education. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6302009 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-63020092019-01-07 How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users Rovers, Sanne F. E. Stalmeijer, Renée E. van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G. Savelberg, Hans H. C. M. de Bruin, Anique B. H. Front Psychol Psychology In order to ensure long-term retention of information students must move from relying on surface-level approaches that are seemingly effective in the short-term to “building in” so called “desirable difficulties,” with the aim of achieving understanding and long-term retention of the subject matter. But how can this level of self-regulation be achieved by students when learning? Traditionally, research on learning strategy use is performed using self-report questionnaires. As this method is accompanied by several drawbacks, we chose a qualitative, in-depth approach to inquire about students' strategies and to investigate how students successfully self-regulate their learning. In order to paint a picture of effective learning strategy use, focus groups were organized in which previously identified, effectively self-regulating students (N = 26) were asked to explain how they approach their learning. Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology, a model was constructed describing how effective strategy users manage their learning. In this model, students are driven by a personal learning goal, adopting a predominantly qualitative, or quantitative approach to learning. While learning, students are continually engaged in active processing and self-monitoring. This process is guided by a constant balancing between adhering to established study habits, while maintaining a sufficient degree of flexibility to adapt to changes in the learning environment, assessment demands, and time limitations. Indeed, students reported using several strategies, some of which are traditionally regarded as “ineffective” (highlighting, rereading etc.). However, they used them in a way that fit their learning situation. Implications are discussed for the incorporation of desirable difficulties in higher education. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-12-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6302009/ /pubmed/30618932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02501 Text en Copyright © 2018 Rovers, Stalmeijer, van Merriënboer, Savelberg and de Bruin. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Rovers, Sanne F. E. Stalmeijer, Renée E. van Merriënboer, Jeroen J. G. Savelberg, Hans H. C. M. de Bruin, Anique B. H. How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title | How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title_full | How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title_fullStr | How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title_full_unstemmed | How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title_short | How and Why Do Students Use Learning Strategies? A Mixed Methods Study on Learning Strategies and Desirable Difficulties With Effective Strategy Users |
title_sort | how and why do students use learning strategies? a mixed methods study on learning strategies and desirable difficulties with effective strategy users |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302009/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30618932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02501 |
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