Historical Review of Learning Strategies Research: Strategies for the Whole Learner—A Tribute to Claire Ellen Weinstein and Early Researchers of This Topic

Abstract

This selective historical review summarizes research on learning strategies conducted in the past 50 years and summarizes how the field has evolved. Two goals guide the review: (1) update the literature on the origins of the learning strategies research "movement" and (2) highlight in the supplement the work of one of the early contributors, Claire Ellen Weinstein, whose pioneering work endures up to now. This review fills the gap of other recent reviews by including research on learning strategies began in the 1960s and 1970s that received significant funding from military sources but remained largely hidden in technical reports and hard to find academic documents. The outcomes of this review reveal that the field is thriving, with two major unifying themes. First, there is a focus on metacognition and second, there is a focus on the whole learner and interventions that address cognitive, metacognitive, affective, physical, cultural, and social needs. The research of Dr. Weinstein (who passed June 23, 2016) has framed past and current learning strategies research agendas and includes her development, validation, and implementation of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory in traditional and online learning contexts. This review and Supplementary Material section's personal stories include many of the early learning strategies research findings, definitions, and interventions that remain in use across the nation and world today. Future research issues and areas needing more focused attention in the years ahead given our increasing complex, digital, and diverse world are summarized in final sections of this review. My purpose in this review is to update the literature on the origins of the learning strategies research "movement. " Reviews over the past 50 years have missed many of the research contributions up to now of those who were part of the military-funded efforts during the late 1960s and early 1970s to enhance training effectiveness and efficiency in traditional and computer-assisted training contexts.Much of this early research ended up in technical reports and products not easily accessible in academic databases such as ERIC. This review is meant to update the field of learning strategies research and show how it has evolved into the many specialties we see today.A secondary purpose is to highlight, in the Supplementary Material, the work of one of these early contributors, Dr. Claire Ellen Weinstein, whose personal and professional friendship endured through our graduate student years until she passed suddenly on June 23, 2016. Readers are asked to understand that the dedicated homage in the Supplementary Material section to Dr. Weinstein is selective given it is a product of my own recollections and potential biases.On the whole, my hope is that it will inspire current and upcoming researchers interested in helping all students succeed as they search for theoretically and empirically grounded educational paradigms that address how students learn needed skills and characteristics in twenty-first c...

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