Students’ explanations of their knowledge of learning processes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore adolescent students’ explanations of their knowledge of learning processes. The explanations of 11th-grade high-school and first-year university students were qualitatively analysed to examine the kinds of explanations that were made regarding knowledge of cognitive knowledge (n = 25), knowledge of task demands (n = 26) and knowledge about oneself as a learner (n = 24). The results revealed different kinds of explanations regarding knowledge of task demands than regarding knowledge of cognitive knowledge and of oneself as a learner. Knowledge of task demands was explained via task specifics, task consequences and a combination of these two. Knowledge of cognitive knowledge and knowledge about oneself as a learner resulted in three categories of explanations: what-works directed, extern directed and emotion directed. The results also showed that the students’ explanations were mainly descriptive and hardly showed testing. In the discussion, implications regarding improvements of students’ knowledge of learning processes are pointed out.