We know thinking strategies improve learning, but how long should we spend teaching them?
Written By: Author(s): Robbie Coleman
4 min read
We know teaching cognitive strategies is effective. Now we need to know how long to spend on it
In my last post, I declared myself a big fan of Barak Rosenshine. His writing is sharp and illuminates some interesting ideas around the murky educational debates between teaching skills versus knowledge, and the relative merits of teacher- and student-led activities.
Rosenshine’s support for explicit teacher-led skills instruction shows why a binary split between 'traditional' and 'progressive' teaching is unhelpful. Rosenshine proposed that a central aim of education is to help novices become experts – and a fundamental characteristic of an expert is the way they use skills (or ‘cognitive strategies’) to deal with challenging or unstructured tasks.
In addition to boosting students’ knowledge, Rosenshine believed that effective teachers should make these strategies explicit to students and practise them in their lessons. For example, Rosenshine argued that in addition to teaching knowledge, such as new vocabulary, English teachers should spend time teaching compr
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This article was published in October 2017 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.
References
- Davis, D. (2010). A meta-analysis of comprehension strategy instruction for upper elementary and middle school students. Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University, USA.
- Donker, A., De Boer, H., Kostons, D., Dignath van Ewijk, C. and Van der Werf, M. (2014). Effectiveness of learning strategy instruction on academic performance: A meta-analysis in Educational Research Review 11 (1-26).
- Education Endowment Foundation. (2017). Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2. London: Education Endowment Foundation.
- Rosenshine, B. (1997). The Case for Explicit, Teacher-led, Cognitive Strategy Instruction.
- Shanahan, T. (2015). The Spirit is Willingham but the Flesch is Weak.
- Tharby, A. (2007). Making Every English Lesson Count. Camarthen: Crown House.
- Willingham, D. and Lovette, G. (2014). Can Reading Comprehension Be Taught? Teaching College Record.
- Willingham, D. (2015). A Brief Reply to Tim Shanahan.
- Willingham, D. (2017). The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads. New Jersey: Wiley.
