While there has been considerable interest in cognitive science in education, limited numbers of educators are using this information to inform teaching and learning. That’s according to Weinstein et al. (2018), who identify six effective cognitive learning strategies: spaced or distributed practice, interleaving, retrieval practice,
Another of those loosely defined but favorite words in higher education, metacognition is mostly understood superficially—“thinking about thinking.” We consider it broadly, generically, as it relates to learning. The mental processes involved are not easy to observe or measure. Even though most academics have good
Have you done all you can do to design learning that will truly stick? In this article, we’ll share tips for how we implement three primary learning strategies—retrieval practice, spaced practice, and metacognition—in the courses we support in our roles as learning designers in the
Sometimes it isn’t all that easy to see that you’ve learned something or are in the process of doing so. I have sat with many students, handed them something written early in the course and asked them to look it in light of something they’ve
The easier description of metacognition is “thinking about thinking.” To be metacognitive implies having knowledge of cognitive processes and having the ability to regulate them. In the case of students, that’s knowing about study strategies, their effects on learning, and the ability to act on
The definition of self-efficacy is straightforward: “a person’s perception that he or she has the skill and capability to undertake a particular task.” (p. 1918) It’s important to teachers because of its “consistent” and “demonstrable” links to student learning outcomes. If students believe they can
In the 2017 Hans O. Mauksch Address presented at the American Sociology Association annual meeting, Melinda Messineo argues that we aren’t using as much of the science of learning as we could to help students learn. “In many ways, our efforts in the classroom are
One of the best gifts teachers can give students are the experiences that open their eyes to themselves as learners. Most students don’t think much about how they learn. Mine used to struggle to write a paragraph describing the study approaches they planned to use
Metacognition can be a word that gets in the way of students’ understanding that this “thinking about thinking” is really about their awareness of themselves as learners. Most students don’t spend much time thinking about learning generally or how they learn specifically. In order to
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