Scriptorum · Journal article · SAGE Publications · 2013
About this report
Dunlosky et al. review ten learning techniques that students can use without assistance: elaborative interrogation, self-explanation, summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery for text, rereading, practice testing, distributed practice and interleaved practice. They say they selected techniques expected to be easy to use, and some because students report relying on them heavily. For each technique, Dunlosky et al. examine whether benefits generalise across learning conditions, student characteristics, materials and criterion tasks, and they assign a rating of low, moderate or high utility. They report that practice testing and distributed practice received high utility assessments because they benefit learners of different ages and abilities and boost performance across many criterion tasks. According to Dunlosky et al., elaborative interrogation, self-explanation and interleaved practice received moderate assessments because the evidence for their efficacy is limited. They report that summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery use for text learning and rereading received low assessments. Dunlosky et al. state that most students report rereading and highlighting, yet these techniques do not consistently boost performance, so other techniques should replace them, for example practice testing instead of rereading. The authors also express hope that the monograph will encourage further research on the most promising techniques.
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Details
- Author: John Dunlosky; Katherine A. Rawson; Elizabeth J. Marsh; Mitchell J. Nathan; Daniel T. Willingham
- Publisher: SAGE Publications
- Published: 2013
- Type: Journal article
- Country: United States
- Subjects: Learning techniques, Study strategies, Cognitive psychology, Educational psychology
- Catalogue number: SCR-000003 · P8-S-ART-LRN-001
How to cite
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
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