Learning strategies

A Learning Strategy is a person’s approach to learning and using information. Students use Learning Strategies to help them understand information and solve problems. Students who do not know or use good learning strategies often learn passively and ultimately fail in school. Learning Strategy instruction focuses on making students more active learners by teaching them how to learn and how to use what they have learned to be successful.

Learning strategies are used by students to help them understand information and solve problems. A learning strategy is a person's approach to learning and using information. Students who do not know or use good learning strategies often learn passively and ultimately fail in school. Learning strategy instruction focuses on making the students more active learners by teaching them how to learn and how to use what they have learned to solve problems and be successful.

The Learning Strategies Curriculum has the necessary breadth and depth to provide a well-designed scope and sequence of strategy instruction. The curriculum is divided into strands, or categories of skills.

One strand addresses how students acquire information. It includes strategies for learning how to paraphrase critical information, picture information to promote understanding and remembering, ask questions and make predictions about text information, and identify unknown words in text.

A second strand helps students study information once they acquire it. It includes strategies for developing mnemonics and other devices to aid memorization of facts as well as strategies for learning new vocabulary. These strategies help prepare students for tests.

A third strand helps students express themselves. It includes strategies to help students write sentences and paragraphs, monitor their work for errors, and confidently approach and take tests.

No single strategy is a panacea. For example, we have reading strategies that help students figure out what a word is, comprehend what they're reading, acquire vocabulary, and understand the structure of text. All of these strategies are essential for a well-integrated, balanced reading program. Likewise, an array of strategies in other areas is necessary for student success.

                                                                                                                              

 

 

 

For example:

1.    Brainstorm ideas. There are many effective ways for students to create brainstorms of ideas. Working with pairs or in small groups tends to be effective because students stimulate each other’s thought processes. Encouraging students to think out of the box and to delve into a topic using this technique often has unexpectedly positive results.

2.    Have students solve mysteries. One-minute mysteries, simple puzzles, even riddles make learning fun as well as involving students in active learning pursuits.

3.    Have students sit in a circle. To play, one student begins a story, stops after a few sentences, and then points to another student, who continues the story. You can adapt this activity to teach vocabulary, order of events, facts, or other information.

4.    Ask students to involve themselves in their learning by using review strategies such as these:

o Associate body motions with the material

o Use colored pens to rewrite the main ideas

o Recite or sing the information

o Teach the information to a classmate

o Create a vivid image of the topic

o Restate information in their own words

o Create a quiz and give it to a classmate

5.    Play Name That Person. This game is similar to Twenty Questions in that students try to guess answers with as few clues as possible. You should make up the clues in advance. On game day, you’ll call them out one at a time until someone can name the targeted person, battle, city, or other item.

6.    Chain Making is an educational version of the old alphabet game that small children play. One player begins thinking of an object relating to the unit of study and beginning with the letter “A.” The next student has to repeat that clue and add an object with the letter “B.” The game continues until students are stumped or until they reach the end of the alphabet.

7.    Many teachers use Bingo to review vocabulary words. Photocopy a game board with sixteen or twenty-five blocks. Give students a list of words to place in the blanks. They can use bits of paper to cover the words when you call out definitions.

8.    Play Hangman. In the traditional version, students guess letters in a word or phrase to keep the figure “alive.” In other versions, students can give correct answers to short-answer questions or define vocabulary terms.

9.    Hold sporting events. Divide your students into teams, and use the chalkboard to play games of football, soccer, or whatever sport currently interests to your students. Students advance by correctly answering questions or completing assigned tasks.

10. Exit tickets have been around for a long time because their appeal to students and teachers alike is powerful. Try some of these sentence starters to engage all of your students. You could even post these for students to refer to during class.

• Today I learned…

• I was surprised when…

• I’m beginning to wonder…

• I think I will…

• I would have liked…

• Now I understand

• Class would be more interesting if…

• I can be more successful in this class if I…

• I wish…

11. Give students a general topic and have them form study groups about it before the formal learning about it begins. They can do research, find examples, predict the main points, or complete other free-flowing activities that expose them in a general way to the material and provide background knowledge in a way that engages students fully. Their research can be online or with materials that you provide.

12. Have students make Power Point presentations or slide shows as a review of the material that they are studying in class. When they present their show to the entire group, everyone benefits.