Developing Learners’ Cognitive Strategies and the Motivation to Use Them: Rethinking Education Policy

Abstract

Strategies—and the motivation to use them—are critical to helping learners solve complex problems and complete complex tasks. These strategies and motivation are specific to certain domains—such as science—and even specific to certain tasks. Policies to improve learners’ strategies and motivations should consider the learners themselves, the teacher, and the learning environment. With regard to learners, teachers should explicitly foster an array of learner strategies and teach them when and how to use them; teachers should expect development across learners to vary depending on other cognitive aspects, such as knowledge, as well as other motivational aspects, such as their interest. Policies should enable and encourage teachers to individualize explicit strategy instruction for each student with teachers developing their own strategy instruction by reflecting on that instruction using action research (i.e., research that is done by teachers in their own areas of practice).