Effectiveness of Elaboration Strategies for Grade School Children as a Function of Academic Achievement

Abstract

This experiment examined elaborative strategy use in grade-school children who differed in level of academic achievement. Academically low-, average-, and high-achieving grade-five students were presented with factual information about animals. Students were randomly assigned to one of three strategy conditions: elaborative interrogation (El), repetition (R), and provided elaboration (PE). In the El condition, children answered "why" each fact would be true of the particular animal. Repetition students rehearsed each fact aloud. Students in the PE condition studied facts containing an additional experimenter-provided elaboration. These elaborations made the relation between the animal and the behavior less arbitrary. Average- and high-achieving El students outperformed the repetition group. There were no differences across conditions in the low-achievement group. A likely explanation for the differential results is that low achievers have less relevant knowledge to access when generating elaborations.