Antje and David Leigh-Lancaster, Leigh-Lancaster Consulting 

Introduction

How well something is learnt and remembered depends not only on the time spent studying but also on the learning and review strategies employed. A common feature of effective learning strategies is that they involve active, rather than passive, engagement. This article will discuss:

• less effective and more effective learning and review strategies 
• the Dunning Kruger effect, what it is, and some strategies to help address it. 

Effectiveness of learning and review strategies 

Less effective strategies tend to require less complex mental effort and active input from the individual. Two examples of these strategies commonly used by students are rereading and highlighting: 

• Rereading can often be superficial, with little effort made to fully process the meaning of the text and connect it to other aspects of the topic being studied. The fluency that comes from multiple rereadings can lead to overconfidence without actual understanding. 
• Highlighting can include marking non-critical information or marking too little or too much information. If highlights are made during the initial reading, identifying what is critical can be more challenging. Highlighting also tends to keep the focus on remembering information rather than fostering understanding and connection of the content. 

The effectiveness of any learning strategy relates directly to its implementation. For example, rereading becomes more effective if a learner writes down everything they remember about the topic before each rereading and then notes any gaps or misunderstandings in their knowledge as they reread it. 

Flash cards are another common learning strategy used by students. Their effectiveness also depends on the implementation, for example: 

Less effective use of flash cards: 

• looking at an answer before trying to recall it from memory 
• removing questions that have been answered correctly 
• using the cards only once 
• creating flashcard questions that do not match the format of the topic's assessment questions 
• including content in flashcards that is incorrectly interpreted or misaligned with the topic 

More effective use of flash cards: 

• making a real effort to recall an answer before looking at it, which can include making an educated guess and reconciling any discrepancies 
• continuing to practice with all question, not only those answered incorrectly 
• using flashcards over several sessions 
• creating flashcard questions that align with the format of the topic's assessment questions 
• ensuring the correct interpretation of the content when creating flashcards 

More effective learning strategies typically require more mental effort and active engagement from the learner through the retrieval, connection and/or construction of knowledge. Several effective strategies are listed below. Combining multiple approaches is often the most effective way to maximise impact, as together they can support understanding, recall and retention. 

• Explaining an idea or answer to someone else, or just out loud, is one of the most effective strategies for deepening your own understanding and reinforcing your knowledge as it requires you to structure your thoughts, clarify your understanding, and surfaces any gaps in your knowledge. 
• Mind mapping involves creating a visual diagram of a topic or concept, illustrating the relationships between its various elements and their connections. This is effective as it engages multiple cognitive processes, such as visual representation, spatial organisation, and hierarchical structuring, which enhance understanding and memory retention. The process of ‘chunking’ the information into manageable parts can help reduce cognitive overload and the feeling of being overwhelmed. 
• Spaced practice is an effective learning and retention strategy for students as the repeated process of actively retrieving information over spaced intervals helps to consolidate it in long-term memory. Additionally, this practice provides time for reflection and deeper processing of information between sessions, which can lead to better understanding of the material as the brain has time to form connections and integrate new knowledge with existing knowledge. 
• Interleaved practice involves the learner switching between different types of problems or different ideas within the same lesson or study session, compared to blocked practice, where a learner focuses on one type of problem or idea at a time. The act of needing to choose the appropriate strategy for each new problem reinforces understanding of when to use each method, and solving different types of problems in a mixed order helps students learn to discriminate between them. 

In essence, effective learning strategies aim to create alternate pathways to the same information, deepen understanding of key ideas, build associations to known knowledge, strengthen connections within and across knowledge and be an active participant in the learning process.

Dunning Kruger effect 

Research has found that learners with low competence in a specific area tend to overestimate their ability in that area. This occurs because these learners are often unaware of gaps in their own knowledge and so are unable to make an accurate self-assessment. This phenomenon is referred to as the Dunning-Kruger effect. 

The Dunning-Kruger effect can have several negative impacts for learners who exhibit it, for example: 

• skipping over important learning steps, failing to identify areas needing improvement and spend too little time learning and reviewing the material 
• not being open to feedback because they do not recognise their need for improvement 
• being less likely to seek help from teachers, peers, or other resources when they encounter difficulties 

Enabling students to more accurately appraise their own abilities will help them to make more informed and targeted decisions about their own preparation for learning and revision. Here are a couple of suggestions on how to support students in learning to more accurately assess their abilities: 

• Provide each student with a set of questions and ask them to rate how confident they feel in being able to answer the question correctly on a scale of 1-7 before they answer the question. Researchers have found that learners are more likely to remember the correct answers for questions they initially solved incorrectly if they rated the question with high confidence compared to a rating it with low confidence rating.
• Encourage collaborative learning and group work with peers. For example, have students first complete a practice test or worksheet on their own, and then work with 1-2 other students to share and explain their solutions to each other. 

If you’d like to know more about this topic, refer to: 

• Craig Barton’s Same Surface, Different Deep structure (SSDD) maths problems are examples of interleaved practice. 
• Crebin, B. (2020, April 17). Assessing students' learning strategies. Taking Learning Seriously.  
• InnerDrive. (n.d.). Everything you need to know about the Hypercorrection Effect. InnerDrive.