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This study investigated aspects of metacognition and motivation that may distinguish the learning processes of adults in higher education from those of traditional-age students. Developmental changes in metacognitive and motivational variables and their relationship to course performance were examined for traditional-age (18-23 years) and nontraditional-age (24-64 years) male and female college students, who completed self-report measures of study skills, motivation, and memory ability. Older students reported more use of two higher level study strategies: generation of constructive information and hyperprocessing. Negative correlations, especially for male students, were found between reported use of several strategies and midterm course performance. Developmental changes in the efficiency of strategy use and the lack of a match between strategy use and the type of course assessment are discussed as possible explanations for these findings. Findings of the study suggest that educators in higher education will need to respond pedagogically to differences in the motivation and learning processes of nontraditional students.

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Developmental changes in awareness of the relative benefits of four memory strategies were examined. Preschool, kindergarten and second‐grade children made paired‐comparison judgements of the mnemonic benefits of looking, naming, rehearsal and categorization in a free‐recall task using categorizable materials. Measures of spontaneous strategy use and strategy imitation were also obtained. Preschoolers judged looking as significantly more effective than the other three strategies. The kindergartners showed no significant preference, while second graders judged rehearsal and categorization as significantly more effective than looking or naming. Preschoolers and kindergartners named to‐be‐remembered items, while most second graders used a grouping strategy. Significant relationships between strategic awareness and strategic behaviour were found across ages; however, correlations were not significant when the effect of age was removed. Thus, coordination between strategic knowledge and strategic behaviour appears to result from increases in both strategic awareness and the ease with which more effective strategies can be executed.

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