Do secondary school students make use of effective study strategies when they study on their own?

Abstract

Although there is a large body of evidence for the utility of particular study strategies such as retrieval practice and distributed practice as memory-enhancing instruments, they are seldom used by learners in educational practice. Thus far, the research on the use of these study strategies has focused only on undergraduate university students, oftentimes only investigating a set of predefined strategies. The question, thus, remains whether these results are generalisable to secondary school students. The present study is the first to explore the use of different study strategies by secondary school students. With the use of an open question, 316 secondary school students from three different secondary school levels were asked how they prepare for an exam when they are studying by themselves. The results show that secondary school students use study strategies considered to be suboptimal. In the discussion, we compare our findings with results of previous studies among undergraduate university students.

Are Gifted Students Adapting Their Self-Regulated Learning Processes When Experiencing Challenging Tasks?

“…For example, when reflecting on unsuccessful or negative outcomes, it is more adaptive to use explanations that center on strategy use (e.g., "I failed the test because I only reread the textbook and didn't create my own questions about the content") rather than one's ability level (e.g., "I failed the test because I am not smart enough").Adaptive self-beliefs, strategies, and self-evaluations can be taught and developed (e.g., van Alten et al, 2020). However, students likely do not develop these processes automatically or the ability to consistently and effectively apply them (Dirkx et al, 2019). SRL processes are often task-dependent and they differ based upon task features, including difficulty level (Cleary & Chen, 2009).…”

“…Adaptive self-beliefs, strategies, and self-evaluations can be taught and developed (e.g., van Alten et al, 2020). However, students likely do not develop these processes automatically or the ability to consistently and effectively apply them (Dirkx et al, 2019). SRL processes are often task-dependent and they differ based upon task features, including difficulty level (Cleary & Chen, 2009).…”

Flipped Learning in Secondary Education History Classrooms: What are the Effects and What is the Role of Self-Regulated Learning?

“…Even if students understand that different study behavior is necessary to benefit from FL, they do not always change their learning behavior, and they may even resist doing so (Boevé et al, 2017). In addition, research shows that students' knowledge about cognitive learning strategies is lacking, which in turn hampers metacognition during self-study, as students do not always use optimal learning strategies (Blasiman et al, 2017;Dirkx et al, 2019). On the one hand, this could be explained by the lack of sufficient training in effective study strategies such as distributed practice and retrieval practice (Dignath & Büttner, 2018;Surma et al, 2018).…”

“…Fourth, little research has been carried out to investigate the relationship between students' SRL activity and students' satisfaction. Research has shown that students struggle with effectively applying SRL during self-study (e.g., Blasiman et al, 2017;Dirkx et al, 2019). This can be related, for example, to their views on FL (Boevé et al, 2017), or to their appreciation of the SRL support (van Alten et al, 2020a).…”

“…To benefit from FL, selfregulated learning (SRL) behavior (e.g., monitoring) is required (He et al, 2016;Shih & Huang, 2019). However, students do not always use optimal learning strategies during self-study (Dirkx et al, 2019), and can even resist changing their study behavior during FL (Boevé et al, 2017). Providing students with SRL support (e.g., by prompts) during their learning activities before class has proven to be an effective strategy for enhancing students' SRL and learning outcomes during short-term FL interventions (e.g., one session or a few weeks) in primary education (Lai & Hwang, 2016) and higher education (Moos & Bonde, 2016).…”