Teaching Students HighPerformance Learning
Linda B. Nilson, Ph.D., Director
Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation
445 Brackett Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 USA
Tel: (864) 656-4542 * Fax: (864) 656-0750
nilson@clemson.edu * www.clemson.edu/OTEI
Participant Outcomes
By the end of this workshop, you will be able
to teach students research-backed, highperformance strategies for:
 reading academic material for conceptual
understanding
 studying for tests and long-term retention
 taking tests more effectively and efficiently.

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Most of these strategies will involve
developing students’ metacognitive skills
–that is, their ability to plan, monitor,
control, evaluate their learning.
Many studies tell us that, when students
acquire these skills, they improve their
reading comprehension, study skills,
problem-solving skills, and test
performance (also written or designed
work). They also become less overconfident.
Metacognitive
Awareness/Skills ≈
Self-regulated learning
 Self-assessment of learning
 Self-directed learning
 Self-monitoring of learning
 Reflection on learning

plus

Attributing success/failure to own
study habits & efforts
Regulatory Checklist
(Schraw, 1998, p121)

Planning

Monitoring

Evaluating
1. What is the nature of the task?
2. What is my goal?
3. What kind of information and strategies do I need?
4. How much time and resources will I need?
1. Do I have a clear understanding of what I am doing?
2. Does the task make sense?
3. Am I reaching my goals?
4. Do I need to make changes?
1. Have I reached my goal?
2. What worked?
3. What didn’t work?
4. Would I do things differently next time?
Instruments to Self-Assess
Metacognitive Skills

For Problem Solving: Cooper &
Sandi-Urena, 2009. Available at
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed086p
240

Any Discipline: Schraw & Dennison,
1994. (Put in scholar.google.com)
Reading
Typical Case Scenario
“…they just don't read well enough to handle the amount
and difficulty of reading assignments in college. They often
read and reread the same page in a textbook, without
understanding or remembering what they have
read. Eventually, they give up in despair.… Most students
are…likely to manage maybe three sessions per hour, and
to set aside only two hours to get their reading assignments
from one class done for the next day. And most are lucky to
get even one page, not two, properly read in each fiveminute session. So…such a student will read about six or
ten [pages]. Each time he tries to do his homework, he will
fall even further behind, until finally he surrenders to
hopelessness and starts looking for ways to weasel a
higher grade than he deserves….” (Blue, 2003).
Besides, Why Read?

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Many college students never did the readings
in middle & high school—and did very well.
2/3 of entering U.S. college students in fall
2003 spent < 6 hrs/wk on homework in HS
senior year, and almost half graduated with
an A-average (Higher Education Research Institute, 2004).
70% of these students rated their academic
ability above average or within the top 10% of
their cohort (Higher Education Research Institute, 2004).
1. Explain Why They Must
Read NOW
 What
are you going to
tell students?
2. Explain What Reading
Is and Isn’t
 Not
an eye exercise
 All about focus, concentration
3. Teach Students How to Read
Academic Material: 3 Methods



Wise highlighting or underlining – but
demands the least engagement
Marginalia of summary or reaction –
good for decent readers
5-step process for reading a textbook or
point-of-view nonfiction – best for most
students; primarily homework
Problems with Highlighting

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Too much text highlighted
Doesn’t improve overall recall
When studying later, students who highlight:

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recall highlighted text better than other students,
but recall non-highlighted text less well.
recall highlighted text as unrelated pieces of
info; lose overall meaning & interrelationships.
Kiewra. K.A. (2005). Learn how to study and SOAR to success. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
5 Steps to Read a Textbook or
Point-of-View Nonfiction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Pre-read with them for reflection
Preview readings
Review purpose for reading: study
questions or problems
Read with purpose for answers, solutions
– written homework
Review readings - written homework
Generic Questions for Pointof-View Non-Fiction

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What is the author’s position or claim?
What are the main arguments given in
support of this position or claim?
What evidence or data does the author
furnish to support his/her position or claim?
Evaluate the author’s case, identifying any
questionable evidence or data, missing
information, or flaws in logic or analysis.
4. Teach Students Logical
Transitions and Signal Words
Addition
 Cause-and-Effect
 Comparison
 Contrast
 Emphasis
 Illustration

Studying for Tests
and Long-Term
Retention
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Study timing and spacing
Visual study tools
Review strategies
Problem-solving practice
Study groups – formalized
Student-created review sheets
1. Study Timing and Spacing
Leave time (days or weeks) after first
reading before reviewing or studying
again. (Rohrer & Pashler, 2010)
 Study early; leave time (days)
between studying and the test.

(Rohrer & Pashler, 2010)
2. Visual Study Tools

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Help students identify important ideas
Help them make the abstract + concrete
Enhance their reading comprehension
Makes them integrate and structure
knowledge
Encourage their higher-order thinking
Foster their conceptual understanding
Enhance their long-term retention
Research on Visuals

Deeper learning, conceptual understanding

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Better, longer retention + easier retrieval

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Require less working memory, fewer cognitive transformations
Dual coded in semantic and episodic memories
Cognitive operations easier

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Show BOTH structure of knowledge and integration of its
elements
Easier to locate and extract information
Easier to draw inferences
Cross-cultural
Mind Map (Web)
Teach Students How
to Mind Map

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Write down central idea in center.
Think of (free-assoc) up to 6-7 related ideas
and write them down as radiating out from
the center (with arrows).
Think of (free-assoc) ideas related to these
ideas and show them radiating out from
previous ideas.
Look for cross relationships and draw lines
(with arrows) between related ideas.
Guidelines
Large piece of paper,
landscape style (or board or
monitor)
 Key words only
 Add color, icons, and
symbols

Topic
Main Idea
Sub Topic
Topic
Topic
Sub Topic
Sub Topic
Sub Topic
Concept Map
ME 404: Manufacturing Processes and Their
Application, Professor Laine Mears
DESIGN
Integration
Interpretation
•QFD
INDUSTRIAL
MANUFACTURING
Quality
•GD & T
Time
•Metrology
•Push / Pull
•SPC
•Lean Mfg.
Design for X
Process Planning
PROCESSES
Material
Removal
Machining
Processes
Sheet
Metal
•Turning
•Bending
•Milling
•Stamping
•Drilling
•Blanking
•other
•Punching
Material
Transformation
Casting
Processes
•Sand
casting
•Diecast
•Investment
•other
Bulk
Deform.
•Forging
•Rolling
•Extrusion
•Drawing
Material
Addition
Polymer
Processes
•Inj.
Molding
•Blow
molding
•Rotomold
•other
Joining
Adhesion
Rapid
Prototyping
•Welding
•SLA
•Brazing
•SLS
•3D
Printing
•other
 Concept
= human-defined pattern
in objects, events, or properties
―e.g.,
Objects: “force” “light” “food” “population”
“weather” “pressure” “energy”
 Events: “rain” “photosynthesis”
“marriage”
 Properties: “taste” “density” “life-giving”
“volume” “texture”

Hierarchical Organization
of Knowledge

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from most
inclusive/general/broad/abstract
(superordinate) concept
to most
exclusive/specific/narrow/concrete
(subordinate) concepts
Weather
Population
such as
described by
Rain
Density
Rite-of-passage
e.g.
Marriage
Photosynthesis
requires
Light
requires
CO2
Energy
one form is
Light
which has this property
Life-giving
which describes
Photosynthesis
Teach Students How
to Concept Map
1.
2.
3.
ID & list 12-15 concepts from reading,
classes, etc. (KISS).
Write each concept on a post-it note or
small index card.
ID main topic/concept (superordinate)
and place at top center.
4. Rank-order or cluster remaining concepts
(subordinate) from
most inclusive/general/broad/abstract
(higher up) to
most exclusive/specific/narrow/concrete
(lower down)
5. Arrange concepts in a linkable hierarchy.
6. Draw whole hierarchy on piece of paper
(graph?) with enclosures around
concepts and labeled linking lines (to
specify relationship).
7. Look for cross-links (across branches),
draw in as dotted lines, and label links.
Guidelines
Avoid crossing linking lines.
 No arrows needed because
down is assumed.
 Linked concepts + label =
“proposition”

3. Review Strategies
Read * Recall * Review
1. Read; put away book and notes.
2. Recall all you can.
3. Recite aloud or write it down.

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Better immediate & delayed free recall of fact-based
passages than rereading & equal to note-taking
Less time than note taking, more under learner's control
Gives learner “deliberate practice,” “retrieval practice,”
“retrieval rehearsal,” & immediate feedback
McDaniel, M.A., Howard, D.C., & Einstein, G.O.(2009). The Read-Recite-Review study strategy:
Effective and portable. Psychological Science, 20(4), 516-522.
Roediger, H.L. III, & Karpicke, J.D. (2006). The power of testing memory: Basic research and
implications of the educational practice. Perspective on Psychological Science, 1(3), 181-210.
Similar Schema
 SQ3R
= survey-questionread-recall-review
 PQR3 = preview-questionread-recite-review
Web Sites on Studying
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www.aw-bc.com/etips/usahome/index.html
www.educationatlas.com/study-skills.html
www.studygs.net/murder.htm
www.how-to-study.com/pqr.htm
www.mindtools.com/rdstratg.html
www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html
www.studygs.net
4. Problem-Solving Practice

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Interleaved practice (abcbcacab)
produces better learning than
blocked (aaabbbccc).
Have students solve “old” problems
in addition to “new” ones.
Related to study timing & spacing.
True for any skill, cognitive or
physical.
5. Study Groups

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Must be formally organized so
members have responsibilities to
the group.
Best managed by a learning center
or first-year course program.
Mixed results about effectiveness of
studying in a group v. alone
(Arum, R., & Roska, J. (2010). Academically adrift: Limited
learning on college campuses. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
6. Student-Created Review
Sheet
List major content areas.
 Designate relative importance.
 Within each content area, write down what you
should be able to do or demonstrate, avoiding
internal-states verbs like “know” and
“understand.” Use “recognize,” “identify,”
“reproduce,” “apply,” “analyze,” “draw
relationships between,” “evaluate,” “create.”
 Prepare to do or demonstrate these outcomes.

Test-Taking
and Debriefing
Reducing Test Anxiety

Students write about their worries for
10 mins. right before the test.
Unloads anxiety that uses up working
memory
 Raises test scores by almost one grade
point.
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Relaxation techniques: deep breathing,
slowly counting to 10, visualizing
successful test session
Metacognitive Activities
on Quizzes & Tests

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Problems: Re-solve incorrect problems &
write out the correct strategy.
“Post-exam reflection” after graded test is
returned (one-stage):
Diff betw expected and actual performance
 Hours spent studying – enough?
 How you spent exam-prep time
 Reasons why you lost points
 What you will do differently to prep for next exam

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2-stage “post-test analysis” questionnaire
on prep strategies (see Teach Prof, 12/09)
End of test
 When graded test is returned

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“Test Autopsy” – error analysis (form)
Before test #2, write “study game plan”
based on test #1 experience & results;
assess and, if necessary, revise plan after
test #2 is returned.