Promoting the Self-Regulated Use of Retrieval Practice and Elaboration in an Undergraduate Biology Course

• In Event: Measuring SRL Processes in STEM College Courses

Abstract

Retrieval practice (i.e., recalling information from memory) and elaboration (i.e., generating meaningful explanations and examples) promote learning, but students underutilize these strategies when studying. We developed a strategy-training intervention addressing prominent barriers to students’ strategy use: lack of knowledge, lack of motivation, and poor management of study time. Undergraduates in an Introductory Biology course were randomly assigned to receive the strategy-training intervention or to a healthy life habits control group. No significant differences were found between the two groups on measures of learning behavior or achievement collected across the semester, emphasizing the challenge of changing students’ learning habits. Future research should investigate strategy training with lower- performing students integrated into a course.

Authors

• Michelle Lauren Rivers, Texas Christian University

• Uma Tauber, Texas Christian University

• Mark McDaniel, Washington University in St. Louis