| Research Evidence: What We Know About Effective Cognitive/Learning Strategies
This is an initial summary of the research in cognitive strategy instruction that was adapted from the summary of research in the Nineteenth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S Department of Education, 1997). We will be updating this research review once or twice a year.
A major technique adopted by many educators who use explicit instruction has been cognitive strategy instruction. In the words of Harris and Pressley (1991, p. 395), "Strategy instruction provides students with their culture's best kept secrets about how to obtain academic success." It teaches strategies many students either would not discover at all or would discover only after a great deal of frustration and failure. These strategies, some relatively complex, others seemingly quite simple, are typically derived from observations of how competent students perform these tasks. The goal is to provide students a structure or a series of steps they can use to help them distinguish important from less important material (to be reminded of how others organize themselves and their resources to complete the task successfully). These strategies can be applied to a variety of academic areas, including expressive writing, reading comprehension, mathematical problem solving, and scientific reasoning.
Typically, students are first taught a plan of action to utilize when pursuing a cognitive goal. In the second, most extensive phase of instruction, students must learn to use the plan proficiently. Students receive feedback from their teachers or peers and learn from watching fellow students how to utilize the same plan of action.
Another critical aspect of cognitive strategy instruction is the development of routine, or the virtually automatic use of strategies. Concurrently, teachers attempt to build a sense of "ownership" by the students. In other words, students are encouraged to make minor shifts in the strategy, to streamline it, and to expand on facets of interest. Teachers convey a sense that there is not one precise method but that methods can and should be evaluated and discussed.
Meta-cognitive knowledge is "an understanding of where and how to use it" (Harris & Pressley, 199 1, p. 398). Meta-cognitive knowledge develops from observing the efficacy of the strategy through repeated use of learned strategies. Through this lengthy process of learning and using strategies, the individual modifies them, and ultimately invents new strategies based on the old. The goal of strategy instruction is to help students understand when and how to apply a particular strategy. This is very important for students with learning disabilities because this is precisely the domain in which they have the most problems-learning how to apply what they know to novel situations.
Additional research on the use of specific strategies for specific learning applications can be found at http://www.ku-crl.org/sim/lscurriculum.html
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