Cognitive Learning Strategies Research Articles

Learning Strategies in Mathematics for Related Study Programs Focusing on Cooperative Education in Germany – Viewed from the Perspectives of the Academic Disciplines, Economics and Engineering, as well as Gender

AbstractCognitive learning strategies are seen as a central element for successful learning. Acquiring knowledge about its worth, can support persons in sophisticated groups in attaining academic success. Consequently, the authors are interested in domain-specific learning strategies for mathematics in the academic disciplines of economics and engineering in cooperative tertiary education, in addition to determining gender-specific preferences for particular learning strategies. Data from a cross-sectional design with N = 565 cooperative students from Germany are used. A 2 × 2 analysis of variance, with one repeated measure, show the impact of academic disciplines and gender on seven specific cognitive learning strategies in mathematics. Taken together, these results show the complexity of cognitive learning strategies in higher education learning.

Gender Differences in Cognitive Learning Strategies in Pakistani Schools: Implications for Educational Practices

Gender Differences in Cognitive Learning Strategies in Pakistani Schools: Implications for Educational Practices

Navigating time and space: examining the impact of contextual factors and self-regulation strategies on university students’ momentary engagement

This study presents a tool to capture students’ academic activities and engagement dynamics in university settings. It explores how strategies to manage time and study environments interact with contextual factors (i.e. study time, learning events, and study locations) in predicting students’ concentration and cognitive learning strategies in 81 students using experience sampling method. Findings show that students who are more capable of managing their time and study environment tend to exhibit reduced susceptibility to the influences of time and types of learning events. Furthermore, the positive relationships between time and study environment management and cognitive learning strategies are stronger in formal settings or residences than in informal settings. This study underscores the significance of self-regulation strategies for learning, especially in diverse university environments, for fostering optimal learning experiences.

Influence of learning strategies and motivation on anatomy test performance of undergraduate medical students

To learn and comprehend the large amount of information in gross anatomy, undergraduate students must self-regulate their learning to be properly prepared for the exams within the available time. Even though there are many studies on learning strategies and their influence on test results and motivation, the aim of this study is to investigate characteristics of learning strategies in detail and in relation to the anatomy course of first semester students and how their use is related to anatomy test performance. For assessing the learning strategies, we used the short version of the questionnaire “Learning Strategies of University Students” (LIST-K) (Klingsieck, 2018). Further, we investigated potential influences of motivation and resources used during the self-regulated learning process. The participants in this study (N = 108) filled in the above-mentioned questionnaire LIST-K and a written multiple-choice anatomy test. A k-means cluster analysis revealed three groups of students differing in their self-reported use of learning strategies. Students used either (1) predominantly metacognitive and resource-related strategies, (2) predominantly cognitive strategies, or (3) no specific learning strategies at all. We found no significant overall relationships between the use of learning strategies and test performance. A stepwise linear regression identified the use of cognitive learning strategies (β =.269) as a significant predictor for test performance (R² =.149, p =.003), possibly as these specific learning strategies help with a systematic and effective approach while studying anatomy and retrieving large amount of memorized information. Further, motivation was identified as a negative predictor (β = −.277), which might be a result of the short time periods students have to study for exams. Overall findings underline the importance of self-regulated learning as a positive predictor for academic performance. By understanding these factors, a more student-centered approach could be adopted by educators to improve medical education and equip students with valuable approaches for their continuous education, even beyond university.

Utility value is key. Exploring factors that contribute to student motivation for effective cognitive learning strategies in higher education

AbstractEffective cognitive learning strategies are beneficial for learning and long‐term retention. However, higher education students often rely on surface‐level strategies like reading and underlining. Interventions to support effective cognitive strategy use have addressed knowledge, beliefs, planning, and commitment. This latter aspect and its relation with motivation has remained underexposed. Therefore, this study aimed to answer the following research question: What factors contribute to student motivation for effective cognitive strategy use during self‐study in higher education? First‐year vocational university students participated in focus group discussions (N = 100), and completed a strategy questionnaire (N = 217). Results showed that students used combinations of effective cognitive and surface‐level strategies based on successful past experiences. Perceived utility value of strategies for students' performance‐oriented goals contributed considerably to motivation, and students reduced perceived costs by combining self‐study with non‐academic activities. Incorporating these aspects in strategy support could be next steps for future interventions.

Relationships of Learning Styles to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Gen Z

This research investigates a cohort of Gen Z students’ learning attributes to understand their learning styles. In this study, we applied Bloom’s Taxonomy as a framework to understand the cognitive learning strategies of Gen Z students and explore the development of corresponding and effective learning and appropriate assessment approaches for their academic success. A survey of Business students at a medium-sized southeastern (US) university was conducted. The results indicate a significant positive relationship between the dependent variable, taking information apart, and exploring relationships to some of the Bloom Taxonomy attributes as independent variables.

Concept Mapping as a Tool to Scaffold Summary Writing

Second language learners generally struggle with comprehending and identifying main ideas while reading academic texts. Moreover, students are expected to write summaries of texts as a part of their curriculum to facilitate their reading comprehension. Whereas summary writing can be considered a sound post-reading strategy that facilitates comprehension, it is a skill that needs to be mastered. The present action research introduces concept mapping, a fundamental cognitive learning strategy, to facilitate tertiary-level students' reading comprehension and summary writing skills. The sample consisted of 22 undergraduate students, male and female, from the Faculty of Social Sciences in a public sector university in Karachi. Two four-week action cycles engaged students in reading and summary writing tasks using a direct method with model summary samples and a concept mapping tool. Students’ reflective notes and written summaries were used as data collection tools. Thematic data analysis revealed that concept mapping proved to be an effective tool in summary writing and facilitated students in identifying and organizing main ideas. Findings and ethical considerations are discussed.

UNRAVELING THE USE OF COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES AMONG MOROCCAN EFL FIRST-SEMESTER UNIVERSITY LEARNERS

This study, drawing on the theory of metacognition as a lively research area in the field of educational psychology, is intended to explore the cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies (CMLSs) tapped by the English department first-semester university students in their learning practices. It is an attempt to evaluate the extent to which EFL learners resort to these ‘high-level’ heuristics for executing a diversity of learning-related tasks. To achieve this stated objective, this exploratory study targeted 63 Moroccan English department students. The data were gathered through the use of a ‘self-report questionnaire’ that addressed the learners’ recourse to (meta) cognitive learning strategies (CMLSs) along the continuum of their academic studies at the first-semester level. The outcomes reached manifestly exhibit that heavy reliance on cognitive strategies (CSs) and reduced dependency on metacognitive strategies (MSs) prototypically characterized the learners’ adopted processing modes in tackling differing learning tasks relatable to studying English as a foreign language (EFL). Hence, some actionable recommendations as well as a few limitations encountered in conducting this study are explicitly put forward.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/lit/0757/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

중등학생의 인지조절전략과 학업 효능감의 관계

Objectives This study empirically examined how cognitive self-regulated learning strategies influence students' academic self-efficacy, considering variations in family backgrounds.
 Methods To achieve this, data from the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th waves of the Korean Educational Longitudinal Study (KELS) 2013 cohort were used, selecting data based on the inclusion of cognitive self-regulated learning strategies in surveys (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th waves), post-middle school time points (3rd, 5th, 7th waves), and parental demographic background surveys (1st wave).
 Results Analyzing three time points of longitudinal data, vulnerable students showed lower academic self-efficacy and cognitive self-regulated learning strategies compared to non-vulnerable students. Using a two-way fixed effects model, an increase in cognitive self-regulated learning strategies had a static effect on changes in academic self-efficacy, with a greater impact observed among vulnerable students.
 Conclusions This study suggests evidence that socioeconomic-based disparities in students' academic self-efficacy can be mitigated. The need for additional cognitive self-regulated learning strategy education for vulnerable students is emphasized.

Knowing how to learn: development and validation of the strategy knowledge test for self-regulated learning (SKT-SRL) for college students

Self-regulated learning (SRL) encompasses cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational learning strategies and is highly relevant for academic achievement. Although students have mostly acquired high-level SRL strategy knowledge by the time they reach college, they often show deficiencies in their application of SRL strategies. In order to investigate the gap between SRL strategy knowledge and its application in more depth, it is necessary to develop instruments that assess conditional SRL strategy knowledge for the whole learning process with sufficient validity and reliability. Therefore, based on four distinct studies conducted in Germany, the development and validation of a new Strategy Knowledge Test for Self-Regulated Learning (SKT-SRL) for college students are described. Study 1 describes the development of the test and the results of expert ratings that speak in favour of the test’s content validity. Study 2, the pilot study, was undertaken to gain insight into the psychometric characteristics of the SKT-SRL, examine its relationship to other SRL assessment methods and academic achievement, and reach a sense of its validity. Studies 3 and 4 present the results of two validation studies for the SKT-SRL; they investigated its psychometric characteristics, convergent validity, factorial structure, test–retest reliability, and its relationship to academic achievement as well as other study-relevant factors. Overall, the results are promising and the SKT-SRL mostly showed sufficiently valid assessments. To conclude, the SKT-SRL is a useful tool for analysing conditional SRL strategy knowledge in college students and can be used for further research on the relationship between SRL strategy knowledge and strategy usage.

Zooming in on self-regulated learning in undergraduate remote learning during extreme conditions

Extreme conditions may require students to fine tune their remote online learning requiring knowledge about learning strategies. This form of knowledge may be captured by the term metaprocesses, which is defined as the knowledge and proficiency of cognitive (metacognition), emotional (metaemotion), and behavioral (metabehavior) learning strategies – and are hypothesized to shape learning outcomes. Undergraduate students were queried online during a COVID-19 lockdown (January 2021, N = 343, 62 % female) and again a few months later during a period of missile attacks (May 2021, N = 214, 41 % female). Path models suggest that perceived stress moderated the associations between metaprocesses and achievement outcomes (self-regulated learning, emotions, and engagement) somewhat differently for male and female undergraduate students. Robust findings provided evidence that metaemotion was positively associated with reappraisal emotion regulation of learning and metacognition was positively associated with engagement. For students low on perceived stress, metaprocesses were associated with outcomes, providing evidence that high levels of stress intrudes on coursework. Cumulative effects were found for perceived stress during the lockdown positively associated with negative deactivated emotions during the missile attacks, and negatively associated with cognitive and behavioral strategies for females. Challenges of learning during crisis may be eased when students have knowledge and proficiency about their learning strategies, suggesting potential benefits for resilience-building skills as part of academic learning.

Entwicklung und Validierung eines Instruments zur Erfassung selbstregulierten Lernens in Lernprodukten

The analysis of students’ learning products enables a behavioral diagnosis of cognitive learning strategies and provides new information for the evaluation of learning activities. The current study aims to analyze whether organization and elaboration strategies can be measured reliably in learning products and can be validated by learning success. With a newly developed coding scheme 229 lecture summaries of 24 student teachers were examined by different high-inferent categories, which enable an efficient evaluation of the learning products. For deeper insights, 94 lecture summaries of 10 students with either high or low learning success were analytically rated by means of low-inferent categories. Overall results show an interrater reliability that is substantial for high-inferent categories and very good for low-inferent categories. Significant correlations between the usage of learning strategies for the learning products and learning success (exam grades) could be found. Students with high learning success used learning strategies of nearly all categories more frequently as those with low learning success. Limitations and potentials of the approach for diagnosing and evaluating self-regulated learning processes are discussed.

The Impact of Smart Classroom Preferences on the Critical Thinking Skills of Chinese Pre-Service Teachers: The Role of Moderating Cognitive Learning Strategies

The Impact of Smart Classroom Preferences on the Critical Thinking Skills of Chinese Pre-Service Teachers: The Role of Moderating Cognitive Learning Strategies

Learners’ Use of Pragmatic Learning Strategies Across Language Learning Experience and Gender: An Investigation Framed by Rebecca Oxford’s Taxonomy of Learning Strategies

Learners' acquisition of pragmatic competence in additional languages has received mounting attention since the 1990s. However, although studies on general learning strategies have proliferated since Oxford’s (1990) influential inventory was published, studies on pragmatic-specific learning strategies contributing to the acquisition of this competence are rare. To fill this research gap, the current study purported to inquire into the main pragmatic learning strategies used by English language learners across gender and language learning experience. To collect the data, 145 learners were interviewed. These participants' answers were audio-taped and transcribed. These extracted strategies were organized into six groupings of memory-related, cognitive, metacognitive, compensatory, social, and affective pragmatic learning strategies based on Cohen's (2005, 2010) pragmatic-specific categorization and Oxford's (1990) general language learning strategy classification. The analysis showed that those learners with longer experience used more pragmatic learning strategies; nonetheless, gender did result in great differences in employing these strategies. This study presents a new categorization for pragmatic learning strategies, which can be used for more effective pragmatic learning strategy teaching and learning.

Distributed Cognitive Learning Strategy for Cooperative–Competitive Multiagent Systems

In this paper, the distributed cognitive learning algorithm of cooperative-competitive multi-agent systems (MASs) on undirected graphs is studied, using parabolic equations as a model. Two cases are considered: without disturbance and with boundary disturbance. A bipartite consensus learning strategy is designed for the disturbance-free case, enabling agents to cognitively learn cooperative and adversarial information transmitted by their neighbors, thus reaching a synergistic consensus with other agents. For the case with boundary disturbance, an auxiliary system is first introduced and a disturbance observer is designed to estimate the disturbance. Then a cognitive learning algorithm is designed, in which agents constantly adjust their behavior by sensing the external environment to make complex behavioral decisions. Based on the proposed algorithms, the well-posedness of the closed-loop system is verified using semi-group theory, and the bipartite consensus of the MASs is discussed using Lyapunov’s direct method. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is verified using the finite difference method and Chebyshev spectral method.

Distributed Process Monitoring for Multiagent Systems Through Cognitive Learning

Multi-agent systems are usually large-scaled with a growing degree of intelligence and integration. Direct applications of traditional (centralized) methods will become incompetent for effective process monitoring of multi-agent systems. It necessitates the cognitive learning strategies that determine the effective interactions among subsystems or individuals. Therefore, in order to improve monitoring performance, this paper targets the development of a new distributed process monitoring method that has the cognitive learning ability by embedding an adaptive pickup rule. The proposed cognitive learning-based method can reduce the computation loads in both off-line and online phases because only necessary information exchange (or communication topology) is involved. Furthermore, the threshold used for system monitoring is obtained by developing a fast search algorithm based on statistical learning theory. Case studies on the wastewater treatment system, which can be regarded as a typical multi-agent system, demonstrate the superiority of the proposed distributed process-monitoring method.

The Application of Cognitive Teaching and Learning Strategies to Instruction in Medical Education

This study aimed to explore how cognitive learning theory can be utilized in medical education by examining teaching strategies and providing practical applications. The main findings are as follows. First, there are seven teaching strategies and specific sample activities that instructors can use based on learning processes in medical schools. These strategies include promoting the perception of sensory stimuli, maintaining divided or selective attention, reducing the cognitive load, implementing encoding strategies, facilitating information retrieval, incorporating distributed learning for retention, and utilizing metacognitive strategies. Second, this study discusses nine instructional events to which cognitive learning strategies have been applied. These events encompass gaining attention, informing learners of goals, stimulating recall of prior learning, presenting new content, providing learning guidance, offering exercises and learning activities, giving feedback, assessing performance, and improving retention and transfer. Third, principles of curriculum design have been implemented from a cognitive perspective. Fourth, case studies of instruction employing cognitive teaching strategies are discussed. Cognitive learning theory has two implications: first, if instructors in medical schools apply the results of the study to design classes and curricula, they would be able to minimize learners’ cognitive load due to ineffective teaching strategies or curricula; second, cognitive teaching strategies that aim to elicit improvements in thinking skills could provide useful teaching strategies for medical education, which aims to train experts with high-level thinking processes. In this sense, cognitive learning theory can be effectively applied in current medical education.

Learning and teaching strategies as related to language arts in China: A heterogeneity study

Based on data from a large-scale assessment of school quality in China, this study examined the differences in the impact of learning and teaching strategies on the students’ academic achievements between elementary and middle schools. Two-level hierarchical linear models and coarsened exact matching revealed three major findings: (a) Cognitive, meta-cognitive, and inquiry-based learning strategies were significant predictors of students’ academic achievements, and the effect sizes of these strategies were larger in middle schools; (b) Individualized instruction, participatory instruction, and guided inquiry teaching strategies were significant predictors of students’ achievements, and the effect sizes of these strategies were larger in elementary schools; (c) Overall teaching strategies significantly improved learning strategies, and the effects were greater in elementary schools. These findings call for more research on learning/teaching strategies to improve students' academic performance.

Impact of flipped classroom on EFL learners’ self- regulated learning and higher-order thinking skills during the Covid19 pandemic

The advent of innovative online tools has ushered in new possibilities for enhancing the quality of language learning. This study delved into the influence of the flipped classroom approach on augmenting the cognitive and meta-cognitive competence of EFL learners. Two distinct participant groups were enlisted for the study's sequential phases, necessitating varying sample sizes to compare the effects of the flipped classroom against traditional instructional modes on the improvement of EFL learners' self-regulated learning strategies and higher-order thinking. Homogeneous groups of language learners were essential for addressing the research inquiries, and participants were selected from two private language institutes in Arak, Iran. Multiple data sources, including a language proficiency test, the Self-Regulation Questionnaire, a flipped classroom attitude questionnaire, and the Higher-Order Thinking Skills Test, were employed to gather the necessary data. The results demonstrated a significant impact of flipped classrooms on learners' utilization of cognitive self-regulated learning strategies, indicating that the flipped classroom approach fosters students' development as self-directed learners. Concerning the influence of the flipped classroom on enhancing EFL learners' higher-order thinking skills, it was deduced that the flipped classroom significantly affected the learners' engagement in evaluating, analyzing, and creating. The implications of these findings underscore the potential of the flipped classroom approach to positively shape EFL learners' self-regulated learning and higher-order thinking skills, advocating for its incorporation into language education practices.

Gender-Based Utilization of Indirect Language Learning Strategies Among Non-Native Arabic Speakers at a Malaysian Public University

This quantitative study aims to investigate the indirect language learning strategies among non-native Arabic speakers employed by 116 Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students who have enrolled in the Arabic Language course for one semester in the year 2022. Data collection for this study utilized the Strategies Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire, developed by Oxford in 1990. Descriptive statistics were employed to discern the preferred prevailing indirect language learning strategies favoured by male and female students in the Arabic Language course. Additionally, the independent sample t-test was applied to scrutinise potential significant differences in the utilization of indirect learning strategies between male and female learners. The study’s findings underscore the prevalence of metacognitive strategies as the predominant learning approach among these students, with affective strategies and social strategies following closely in popularity. Furthermore, the mean scores for indirect learning strategy variables among both male and female learners suggest that there are no noteworthy distinctions in the application of metacognitive, cognitive, and social learning strategies during their Arabic language learning journey. Hence, the study recommends that social learning strategies can be considered as part of improving the Arabic learning language process.