What Are Learning Strategies?

By Sharon Linde
In education, we define learning strategies as techniques used by students to become
familiar with information. In other words, it's how we take in information and apply it to other
areas of our lives. Without good strategies, students can struggle with acquiring and using the
information they are taught in the classroom. Luckily, educators can directly instruct students
on how to become active learners by teaching learning strategies, those strategies that show
students how to take in new information and use it in valuable ways.

Why Research-Based?
Teachers bring a lot of instinct to their classrooms, but they aren't born knowing what is best
for all students. Educational research helps illuminate what has been shown to be effective so
teachers can use the best methods of instruction in their own classes. Research can be broken
down into two categories: brain science and teachers.
You may have heard the words 'cognitive research' when determining student needs or
preparing professional papers. Brain science, also known as cognitive science, is the area
of research that looks into the brain, sometimes literally, to help us understand how it works.
The information gleaned from cognitive research steers instructional methods.
Separate from cognitive science is research based on the experience of teachers. Master
teachers are a great source of educational research. The depth of their experience in the
classroom provides researchers with valuable information about how students act and react to
instructional methods and content.

How Students Learn

Educational research shines the light on how children learn. There are three viewpoints that
can help determine whether a student is using learning strategies or not. The first learning
strategy asks the question, 'How do you remember new information?' There are a range of
tools used by active learners that help them retain information that is new to them. These
tactics include:

 Putting key information into your own words

 Making mental images, or pictures, of new information
 Asking questions and making predictions about the next piece of new information
 Recognizing unknown words and seeking out the meaning

Successful students use all four of these learning strategies to make sense of new information.
Our second strategy is framed by the question, 'How do you study information?' Once
information has been initially stored in the brain, active learners utilize a separate set of
techniques that help push the surface knowledge to long-term memory. Strategies for study
are:

 Coming up with word games to help memorize facts

  Developing associations between new vocabulary words and learned words
 Using the information in more than one way, such as making index cards from notes or
making a web of new data.

And, finally, the third strategy to active learning asks, 'What do you do with your new learning?'
Successful students don't just take in new learning; they use it in expressive ways like:

 Writing it in stories, sentences, and paragraphs

 Drawing pictures to connect visuals
 Rereading and checking for errors and monitoring for understanding

Teachers can encourage students to incorporate active learning principles into their own
studies by assigning some of these tools in class. For instance, as students begin to learn
about the American Revolution, they might start the unit by not only memorizing facts and
dates pertinent to the war, but also rephrasing the information into their own words and
visualizing it. Before the test, create word games to help your students remember important
names and facts, and link new vocabulary to words they already know. Finally, review the unit
at semester end by having your students rewrite events from the war into narrative stories,
create a fact web or timeline, or draw pictures of their favorite tale from revolutionary times.

Effective Learning Strategies

Teachers play an important role in successful learning, as does consistency. Effective teachers
can set up instruction strategically so students are more effective learners. Research shows
teachers who use the following teaching strategies have more successful learners:

1. Each new lesson begins by reviewing the previous lesson. Circling back to yesterday
helps young people make connections to their learning.
2. New material is presented in small increments and followed immediately by practice.
Teach in small chunks to maximize understanding.
3. Question all students throughout the lesson. Don't assume students understand; verify
their understanding frequently. If you move on without their understanding, you've lost
them.
4. Assign practice materials and be a part of the practice. Practice materials allow
students to interact with information and make it their own. When you send students off
to practice material, it is vital you interact with them to be sure they're using the new
information correctly and staying focused on the task.
5. Scaffold learning. Plan for misunderstandings and have a strategy in place for how you
can support all learners, including those who go beyond and those who struggle.
6. Recap, review, and connect. End each lesson by recapping what was learned,
reviewing how it connects to prior learning, and connecting it to future lessons.

Lesson Summary
Learning strategies are techniques used by students to become familiar with information.
Educational research comes from two sources: brain, or cognitive, science and teacher
experience. Brain science, also known as cognitive science, is the area of research that
looks into the brain, sometimes literally, to help us understand how it works. The information
gleaned from cognitive research steers instructional methods. This research tells us how to
teach students strategies to make learning more sustained. It asks questions such as:
  How do you remember new information?
 How do you study information?
 What do you do with your new learning?

How teachers instruct can make a difference in how students learn as well. Strategies teachers
can use to strengthen student learning include following a prescribed step-by-step method of
teaching that stresses the need to connect small teaching moments, supported practice, and a
plan for all learners.

Linde, S. (enero de 2013-2017). Research Based in Teaching Strategies. Recuperado el 28 de 03 de

2017, de study.com: https://study.com/academy/lesson/research-based-learning-
strategies.html#lesson