Teaching Learning Strategies / Wilbert J. McKeachie and Others.

An evaluation was conducted of an introductory cognitive psychology course that focused on both the concepts of cognitive psychology and their application to learning strategies. A special target group was the freshman student. Instruction covered cognitive and motivational theory and reasons why learning strategies work. Students practiced the learning strategies and were made aware of the possibility of choosing a strategy, rather than studying in the same way in every situation. The course involved two lectures a week and a laboratory that allowed: practice, discussion of lectures and text material, and teamwork in the development and evaluation of a learning strategy. Student evaluation included self-report measures administered at the beginning and end of the semester, grade point average in subsequent courses, and student comments in the year following the course. In addition to substantial success in students' self-reported study habits, modest success in student achievement in later semesters was found. Improvement was found on measures of learning strategies, anxiety, and need for cognition. An attribute-treatment interaction revealed that students high in anxiety were particularly helped by the course. (SW)

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