lsoverview.pdf

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A Learning Strategy is a persons approach to learning and usinginformation. Students use Learning Strategies to help them understandinformation and solve problems. Students who do not know or use goodlearning strategies often learn passively and ultimately fail in school.Learning Strategy instruction focuses on making students more activelearners by teaching them how to learn and how to use what they havelearned to be successful.

LearningStrategies

No single strategy is a panacea. We have read-ing strategies that help students gure out what aword is, comprehend what theyre reading, acquirevocabulary, and understand the structure of text.All of these strategies are essential for a well-inte -grated, balanced reading program. Likewise, anarray of strategies in other areas is necessary forstudent success.

The Strategic Instruction Model LearningStrategies have been successfully eld tested withstudents judged to be at risk for academic failure.

Research has demonstrated that consistent, inten -sive, explicit instruction and support are key ingre -dients for instructional success. Our research tookplace in public schools, primarily in middle andhigh school settings, and the strategies were eldtested by teachers. We have successfully tested

a combination of instructional models involvinggeneral education teachers and special educationteachers, both individually and collaboratively.

STRATEGIES RELATED TOREADING

FUNDAMENTALS OF PARAPHRASING ANDSUMMARIZINGThe Fundamentals of Paraphrasing and Summarizing

is designed to teach the fundamental skills studentsneed to be able to identify and paraphrase mainideas and details. Fundamentals contains lessonson paraphrasing words, phrases, and sentences,as well as lessons on identifying main ideas anddetails in paragraphs and short essays.

To learn more about the Strategic Instruction

Model, contact the University of Kansas

Center for Research on LearningJoseph R. Pearson Hall

1122 West Campus Road, Room 517

Lawrence, KS 66045-3101

785.864.4780 785.864.5728 (fax)

[email protected] http://kucrl.org

http://kucrl.org/sim April 2009


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2 The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning http://kucrl.org

INFERENCE STRATEGY The Inference Strategy is a set of procedures read -ers can use to comprehend written passages andanswer inferential questions (questions that arenot answered directly in the text). Research resultsshowed that students who learned the InferenceStrategy improved their ability to make infer -ences and to identify different types of questions.Students performed signi cantly better on testsincluding standardized reading assessmentsafterlearning the strategy.

PARAPHRASING STRATEGY The Paraphrasing Strategy is designed to help stu-dents focus on the most important information ina passage. Students read short passages of materi -als, identify the main idea and details, and rephrasethe content in their own words. Using grade-levelmaterials, students performed at a 48 percent com -prehension rate before learning the strategy. Afterlearning the strategy, these students comprehended84 percent of the material.

SELF-QUESTIONING STRATEGY The Self-Questioning Strategy helps students createtheir own motivation for reading. Students createquestions in their minds, predict the answers tothose questions, search for the answers to thosequestions as they read, and paraphrase the answersto themselves. Research results have shown aver -age gains of 40 percentage points in reading com -prehension on grade-level materials after studentshave learned the strategy.

VISUAL IMAGERY STRATEGY The Visual Imagery Strategy is a reading comprehen -sion strategy for creating mental movies of narra -tive passages. Students visualize the scenery, char -acters, and action and describe the scenes to them -selves. Research results showed that students whodemonstrated a 35 percent comprehension andrecall rate before learning the strategy improved toan 86 percent comprehension and recall rate afterlearning the strategy.

WORD IDENTIFICATION STRATEGY The Word Identi cation Strategy provides a func -tional and ef cient strategy to help challengedreaders successfully decode and identify unknownwords in their reading materials. The strategy is based on the premise that most words in the Eng -lish language can be pronounced by identifyingpre xes, suf xes, and stems and by following threeshort syllabication rules. In a research study, stu -dents made an average of 20 errors in a passageof 400 words before learning this strategy. Havinglearned the Word Identi cation Strategy, studentsreduced their errors to an average of three per 400words. Reading comprehension increased from 40percent on the pretest to 70 percent on grade-levelpassages.

Reading Programs

STRUCTURE YOUR READINGSTRUCTURE Your Reading is a strategic readingapproach that begins as a teaching routine anddevelops into a strategy. Students learn what theyneed to do before, during, and after reading toimprove their reading comprehension. The pro -gram is designed for a variety of implementationscenarios, including collaboration among read -ing and content teachers and among general andspecial educators. We have conducted a variety ofstudies to test its effectiveness in improving read -ing comprehension.

STRATEGIES RELATED TOSTORING & REMEMBERINGINFORMATION

FIRST-LETTER MNEMONIC STRATEGY The FIRST-Letter Mnemonic Strategy is a strategy forindependently studying large bodies of informa -tion that need to be mastered. Speci cally, studentsidentify lists of information that are important tolearn, generate an appropriate title or label for eachset of information, select a mnemonic device foreach set of information, create study cards, and use


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The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning http://kucrl.org 3

the study cards to learn the information. Researchresults showed that students who learned theFIRST-Letter Mnemonic Strategy received test gradesthat increased from an average of 51 percent to 85percent.

LINCS VOCABULARY STRATEGY The LINCS Vocabulary Strategy helps students learnthe meaning of new vocabulary words using pow -erful memory-enhancement techniques. Strategysteps cue students to focus on critical elements ofthe concept; to use visual imagery, associationswith prior knowledge, and key-word mnemonicdevices to create a study card; and to study the cardto enhance comprehension and recall of the con -cept. Research results showed that in a social stud -ies class in which the LINCs Vocabulary Strategy wastaught to the students, the students with learningdisabilities performed at a mean of 53 percent in thepretest and at a mean of 77 percent correct answersafter learning the strategy. In the control class inwhich students did not learn the strategy, the meanpercentage of correct answers decreased from thepretest to the posttest.

PAIRED ASSOCIATES STRATEGY The Paired Associates Strategy is designed to helpstudents learn pairs of informational items, suchas names and events, places and events, or namesand accomplishments. Students identify pairs ofitems, create mnemonic devices, create study cards,and use the study cards to learn the information.Research has shown that before students learnedthis strategy, they correctly answered an averageof only 8 percent of test questions related to pairedinformation when the paired information was iden -ti ed for them. After they mastered the strategy,

they correctly answered an average of 85 percentof the questions about paired information that wasidenti ed for them. When given reading passagesto study on their own, they answered an average of22 percent of test questions correctly before instruc -tion in the strategy versus answering 76 percentcorrectly after mastering the strategy.

WORD MAPPING STRATEGY The Word Mapping Strategy involves breakingwords into their morphemic parts (pre x, suf x,root); attaching meaning to each word part; makinga prediction about the meaning of the unknownword based upon the meaning of each part; andchecking the dictionary for the de nition. The mne -monic MAPS helps students learn and rememberthe names of the steps.

STRATEGIES RELATED TOEXPRESSING INFORMATION

ERROR MONITORING STRATEGY Students use the Error Monitoring Strategy to inde-pendently detect and correct errors in their writtenwork to increase the overall quality of their nalproduct. Instruction stresses the importance ofproofreading written work for content and mechan -ical errors and eliminating those errors before


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work is submitted. This strategy also includes thedevelopment of personal strategies to avoid futureerrors. Research results demonstrated that studentswho mastered this strategy dramatically increasedtheir ability to nd and correct errors in their writ -ten products. Before instruction, they were makingone error in every four words. After instruction,they made only one error in every 20 words.

INSPECT STRATEGY Students use the InSPECT Strategy to detect andcorrect spelling errors in their documents either by using a computerized spellchecker or a hand-held spelling device. Research results showed thatstudents corrected 41 percent of the errors in theircompositions before learning the InSPECT Strategyand corrected 75 percent of the errors in their com -position after learning the strategy.

SENTENCE WRITING STRATEGY The Sentence Writing Strategy program comprisestwo parts: Fundamentals in the Sentence Writing Strat-egy and Pro ciency in the Sentence Writing Strategy .Together, these components constitute a strategyfor recognizing and writing 14 sentence patternswith four types of sentences: simple, compound,complex, and compound-complex. The programconsists of two products for each part (Fundamentals and Pro ciency): an Instructors Manual and a StudentLessons Manual. The Instructors Manual features asystematic sequence of instructional procedures;the Student Lessons Manual features exercises thatcorrespond to instructional procedures. Researchresults showed that students wrote an average of65 percent complete sentences on the pretest andan average of 88 percent complete sentences on theposttest.

PARAGRAPH WRITING STRATEGY The Paragraph Writing Strategy is a strategy fororganizing ideas related to a topic, planning thepoint of view and verb tense to be used in the para -graph, planning the sequence in which ideas will be expressed, and writing a variety of topic, detail,and clincher sentences. The program consists of twoproducts: an Instructors Manual and a Student Les-sons Manual . The Instructors Manual features a sys -tematic sequence of instructional procedures; theStudent Lessons Manual features exercises that cor -respond to the instructional procedures. Researchresults showed that students earned an average of40 percent of the points available when writing aparagraph on the pretest and an average of 71 per -cent of the points available when writing a para -graph on the posttest.

THEME WRITING STRATEGY The Theme Writing Strategy focuses on the funda -mental skills associated with writing themes andprovides learning sheets to accompany instruc -tion. Research studies show the quantity and qual -ity of students expression of information greatlyimproves as a result of instruction in the ThemeWriting Strategy. In one study, although experimen -tal students earned pretest scores that were signi -cantly lower than those of comparison students,they earned signi cantly higher scores at the end ofthe semester. In addition, there were no signi cantdifferences between experimental and compari -son groups English 101 grades and overall grade-point averages, even though experimental studentsentered college with poorer skills.


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STRATEGIES RELATED TODEMONSTRATING COMPETENCE

ASSIGNMENT COMPLETION STRATEGY The Assignment Completion Strategy is designed toenable students to complete and hand in assign -ments on time. The package consists of two books:the Instructors Manual , which provides step-by-step instruction for teaching this strategy, and theQuality Quest Planner , a spiral-bound notebookdesigned speci cally for student use with the strat -egy. Each Instructors Manual comes with one Qual-ity Quest Planner and contains the materials neededto teach the strategy, including blank copies of theforms used with the planner. The planner con -tains suf cient forms for recording, scheduling,and evaluating assignments for an entire academicyear. Performance results in general educationclasses showed that the number of students whosimply turned in their assignments before learn -ing the Assignment Completion Strategy was 43 per-cent, with the percentage increasing to 77 percentafter students learned the strategy. Before learningthe strategy, the number of student who did theassignment correctly was 45 percent. After learningthe strategy, the number of students who did theassignment correctly increased to 73 percent.

ESSAY TEST-TAKING STRATEGY The Essay Test-Taking Strategy is designed to helpstudents deal effectively with the complex test-taking demands of courses in school as well as theessay test-taking demands associated with statecompetency tests, including high-stakes tests, andcollege entrance exams. Students are taught toanalyze the essay question, organize the informa -

tion they know, write their answer with a speci cstructure, and revise with edits to create a polishedproduct.

STRATEGIC TUTORINGStrategic Tutoring describes a new vision of the tutor -ing process in which the tutor not only helps thestudent complete and understand the immediateassignment but also teaches the student the strat -egies required to complete similar tasks indepen -dently in the future. Research results showed thatthe students in Strategic Tutoring improved theirachievement test scores in reading comprehension,written expression, and basic math skills. On aver -age, their grade-level achievement scores increased by 10 months during a four-month instructionalperiod. In contrast, the students in the comparisongroup without the Strategic Tutoring instructionexperienced a mean gain of only 3.5 months duringthe same period.

TEST-TAKING STRATEGY The Test-Taking Strategy is designed to be usedwhile taking classroom tests. Students allocate timeand priority to each section of the test, carefullyread and focus on important elements in the testinstructions, recall information by accessing mne -monic devices, systematically and quickly progressthrough a test, make well-informed guesses, checktheir work, and take control of the testing situation.The emphasis is on teaching adolescents and adultswho struggle with learning. In studies, studentswho learned the Test-Taking Strategy achieved anaverage 10-point increase on tests.


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STRATEGIES RELATED TO SOCIALINTERACTION

SLANT: A STARTER STRATEGY FOR CLASSPARTICIPATIONSLANT: A Starter Strategy for Class Participation is asimple, easy-to-teach strategy designed to help stu -dents learn how to use appropriate posture, trackthe talker, activate their thinking, and contributeinformation.

Cooperative Thinking StrategiesTHINK STRATEGY Students working together in teams use the THINKStrategy to systematically solve problems. Ourresearch studied the use of this strategy in situa -tions in which school improvement goals targetedproblem solving, reasoning, and communicating.Results showed that the mean percentage of pointsearned by groups in the study before instructionwas the same for experimental and comparisongroups at 34 percent. However, at the end of theschool year, the mean percentage score for theexperimental groups was 84 percent and for thecomparison groups 39 percent.

LEARN STRATEGY The LEARN Strategy was designed to enable stu -dents to work in teams to learn together. Eachstep promotes creative cooperation; students thinktogether to generate ideas to help them learn.

Research results indicated that students in theexperimental classes performed a signi cantlyhigher percentage of study behaviors than compar -ison students in their cooperative study groups atthe end of the school year. Experimental group pre -test scores averaged 18 percent with posttest scoresaveraging 70 percent. The comparison group pre -test score average was 27 percent with the posttestscore average 35 percent.

BUILD STRATEGY Students use the BUILD Strategy to work togetherto resolve a controversial issue. The purpose of thestrategy is to enable students to work together tomake decisions using a process similar to a debate.Research results showed that the average score forstudents in the experimental group from observa -tion and products written by students as they dis -cussed the issue was 21.4 percent on the pretest and80.1 percent after learning the BUILD Strategy. Thecomparison group, which did not learn the strat -egy, scored 15.1 percent on the pretest and 19.6 per -cent on the posttest.

SCORE SKILLSSCORE Skills: Social Skills for Cooperative Groups describes a set of social skills that are fundamentalto effective groups. Students learn to share ideas,compliment others, offer help or encouragement,recommend changes nicely, and exercise self-con -trol. Research results showed the mean percentageof cooperative skills used by students in coopera -tive groups in class before learning SCORE was 25percent. The mean percentage increased to 78 per -cent after learning SCORE. The students in the com -parison group that had no instruction in SCORE had average scores of 25 percent and 28 percent for

the cooperative skills they used in the cooperativegroups.

TEAMWORK STRATEGY The Teamwork Strategy provides a framework fororganizing and completing tasks in small groups.Students analyze an assignment and divide it intospeci c tasks, equitably assign those tasks to indi -viduals, offer and request help to complete the


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individual jobs, ask for and give feedback to othergroup members, assemble the individual jobs intoone product, and evaluate the process used to com -plete the project and assess the interpersonal skillsof group members. In eld tests, students in experi -mental classes increased their use of cooperativeskills dramatically, from one-quarter to one-third ofidenti ed skills to three-quarters of the skills. Somegroups chose not to use the strategy for some tasks.When students used the strategy, cooperative skillperformance was close to 100 percent.

Community Building SeriesIn this series, the general goal is to create safe andsupportive learning environments for studentswith disabilities in inclusive classes. This is donethrough teaching students about concepts such asrespect and tolerance and providing each student apartner who can provide support during the learn -ing process.

FOCUSING TOGETHERFocusing Together is an instructional program thatpromotes self-management skills in associationwith a set of classroom expectations that de nesresponsible work habits, respect, and emotionaland physical safety. Students learn how to live bya set of learning community expectations; howtheir choice of whether or not to abide by thoseexpectations affects their personal power; and howto follow a self-management strategy for stayingon task when they must work independently orin small groups. In research studies, students inexperimental classes reduced the number of off-task behaviors during the time they were expectedto work independently (from a mean of 21 to amean of 4.5 per 45-minute period; comparison class

means were 21.9 and 18.3). Students in experimen -tal classes were more pleased with the classroommanagement procedures used by their teachers.Teachers in experimental classes reported a 72percent reduction of rule infractions, while com -parison teachers reported no change. Teachers inexperimental classes also were more satis ed withthe program and their students behavior.

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS TOGETHERFollowing Instructions Together is designed to teachstudents concepts and strategies associated withfollowing instructions effectively. In a eld testinvolving 20 elementary teachers and their stu -dents, signi cant differences were found betweenstudents who participated in the Following Instruc-tions Together program (experimental group) andstudents who did not (comparison group). Experi -mental students answered signi cantly more ques -tions correctly about community concepts andfollowed complex instructions signi cantly moreaccurately than comparison students.

ORGANIZING TOGETHEROrganizing Together can be used to provide instruc-tion in basic strategies associated with keepingnotebooks, schedules/calendars, desks, lockers/cubbies, and backpacks organized. In a eld testinvolving six elementary teachers and their stu -dents, signi cant differences were found betweenthe students who participated in the OrganizingTogether program (experimental group) and thosewho did not. Experimental students answeredsigni cantly more questions correctly about com -munity concepts, they understood and could moreaccurately use a weekly calendar, and their note - books, desks, backpacks, and lockers were signi -cantly more organized than those of comparisonstudents.

TAKING NOTES TOGETHERTaking Notes Together is a program that can beused to teach students a simple strategy for takingnotes in response to a variety of stimuli, includ -ing lectures, demonstrations, movies/videotapes,and reading assignments. In a eld test involving12 teachers and their elementary students, sig -ni cant differences were found between studentswho participated in the Taking Notes Together pro-gram (experimental group) and students who didnot (comparison group). Experimental studentsanswered signi cantly more questions correctlyabout community concepts, and they understoodand could more accurately and comprehensivelytake notes related to lectures, reading assignments,


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2009 The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning

Joseph R. Pearson Hall 1122 West Campus Road, Room 521 Lawrence, KS 66045-3101

videotapes, and demonstrations than comparisonstudents.

TALKING TOGETHERTalking Together is an instructional programdesigned for introducing the concept of learningcommunity to students and for teaching them howto participate respectfully in class discussions. In aresearch study involving 20 teachers and 377 stu -dents, results showed that students in experimen -tal classes that had participated in Talking Togetherlessons knew signi cantly more about how tocreate a classroom community, participated morefrequently, and engaged in fewer behaviors thatwould disrupt a discussion than the comparisonclasses.

STRATEGIES RELATED TOMOTIVATION

SELF-ADVOCACY STRATEGY Students use the Self-Advocacy Strategy when pre -paring for and participating in any type of confer -ence, including education and transition planningconferences (IEP or ITP conferences). Strategy stepsprovide a way of getting organized before a con -ference and provide effective communication tech -niques to use during the conference. When studentslearned the Self-Advocacy Strategy,86 percent of thegoals they most valued were found in their IEPs.Students who had not learned the Self-AdvocacyStrategy had only 13 percent of their desired goalsin their IEPs.

POSSIBLE SELVESPossible Selves is designed to increase student moti -

vation by having students examine their futuresand think about goals that are important to them.Students think about and describe their hoped-for possible selves, expected possible selves, andfeared possible selves. They set goals, create plans,and work toward their goals as part of this pro -gram. In research studies, students in the PossibleSelves condition scored signi cantly higher thanstudents in the control group on measures of goal

identi cation. In one study, at the end of six years,the students in the Possible Selvesgroup had earnedhigher grade-point averages than the students inother groups.

STRATEGIES RELATED TO MATH

STRATEGIC MATH SERIESThe Strategic Math Series focuses on how to teach basic math facts and operations to students ofany age. Content is built upon the concrete-repre-sentational-abstract method of instruction. In thisapproach, understanding of mathematics is devel -oped through the use of concrete objects, represen -tational drawings, and an easy-to-learn strategythat turns all students into active problem solvers.The series includes Addition Facts 0 to 9, AdditionFacts 10 to 18, Subtraction Facts 0 to 9, SubtractionFacts 10 to 18, Multiplication Facts 0 to 81, DivisionFacts 0 to 81, and Place Value.

About KU-CRLFrom our beginning in 1978 as the Institute for Researchin Learning Disabilities, we have grown to encompass sixresearch institutes and multiple lines of research.

ADVANCED LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATIONCONSORTIUM (ALTEC)http://altec.org

DIVISION OF ADULT STUDIES (DAS)http://das.kucrl.org

E-LEARNING DESIGN LABORATORY http://elearndesign.org

INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENT LEARNINGhttp://iral.kucrl.org

KANSAS COACHING PROJECThttp://instructionalcoach.org

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTEhttp://pdri.kucrl.org

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