Learning to Learn. Suggestions for the Development of a Curriculum at the High School Level

An exploration of the effects of mentoring on post-16 Chemistry students' exam performance

“…The sharing of study skills, and alternative ways of explaining the subject material was by far and away the most common process (40% of the total) deployed during mentoring interviews; It became apparent that the students lacked detailed knowledge of strategies for learning or understanding, and felt that they benefitted from practical suggestions on what to do. This deficit in the students' ability to select spontaneously cognitive strategies suggests a possible source of significant underachievement in Chemistry and a potential role for mentoring in developing students' capacity to do this in a subject-specific context (Brien and Goulet, 1982). However, this study did not provide conclusive evidence that it is a deficiency in this area that caused the observed exam underachievement, nor did it exclude other potential contributory factors.…”