Student-Directed

Learning Strategies
Reporters:
Arianne Garcia, RN
Isabel Nunag, RN
Julie Mae Formales, RN
“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be
sought for with ardor and attended to with
diligence.”

-Abigael Adams
 Learning
 Learning is one of the most important mental
function of humans, animals and artificial
cognitive systems. It relies on the acquisition of
different types of knowledge supported by
perceived information. It leads to the
development of new capacities, skills, values,
understanding, and preferences. Its goal is the
increasing of individual and group experience.
Teacher-directed Learning Strategies
VS
Student-directed Learning Strategies
According to Slavin (2003)

One of the most important principles of educational

psychology is that teachers cannot simply give students
knowledge. Students must construct knowledge in their own
minds. The teacher can facilitate this process by teaching in ways
that make information meaningful and relevant to students, by
giving students opportunities to discover or apply ideas
themselves and by teaching students to be aware of and
consciously use their own strategies for learning. Teachers can
give students ladders that lead to higher understanding, yet the
students themselves must climb these ladders.
 Student-directed Learning
Strategies

1. Focus on the learner rather than the teacher

2. Based on the constructivist model
Constructivist View
- students must BUILD their
own knowledge through
activities that engage them in
ACTIVE learning.
According to Carter and et.al
(2000) there is no one “best” way
to learn. Instead there are many
different LEARNING STYLES.
In this session we will be discussing:
 What constructivism is,
 The students learning style according to
Howard Gardner “Theory of Multiple
Intelligence”.
 Different models of Student-directed
learning strategies.
Learning Styles
Howard Gardner
Howard Gardner is a psychologist
based at Harvard University best
known for his theory of multiple
intelligences. In 1981 he was
awarded a MacArthur Prize
Fellowship; (born in Scranton,
Pennsylvania, USA in 1943).
Eight distinct intelligences according to Gardner:

3. Verbal-linguistic intelligence- listening, reading, writing, speaking

4. Logical-mathematical intelligence- math, science, patterns, sequences
5. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence- coordination, working with hands
6. Visual-spatial intelligence- visual art, graphic design, charts and maps
7. Interpersonal intelligence- social activity, cooperative learning,
teamwork
8. Intrapersonal Intelligence- self-awareness, independence, time spent
alone
9. Musical Intelligence- music, sensitivity to sound, understanding
patterns
10. Naturalistic Intelligence- interest in nature, environmental balance,
ecosystem, stress relief brought by natural environments
Advantage of knowing your learning style

1. Help you see how you operate in every arena of life- how
you think, how you relate to others, how you understand
yourself and more.
2. You can use techniques that take advantage of your highly
developed areas while helping you through your less
developed ones.
3. You will have a better chance of avoiding problematic
situations.
4. You will be more successful on the job
5. You will be more able to target areas that need improvement.
 THE INDUCTIVE MODEL
A straightforward but powerful strategy designed to help
students acquire a deep and thorough understanding of the
topics they’re studying. Teachers present students with
information that illustrates the topics and then guide students as
they search for relationships in the information. Grounded in
the view that learners construct their own understanding of the
world rather than recording it in an already-organized form, the
model requires teachers to be skilled in questioning and guiding
student thinking. The model is effective for promoting student
involvement and motivation within a safe and supportive
learning environment.
The essential steps of the model

First - The topics the teachers focused on were

specific and well defined.
Second - The teacher will start with an example or set of
examples.
Third - The teacher guided the students from the
examples to the conclusions in each case.
Fourth - Under the teacher’s guidance, the students used
basic cognitive skills, such as observing,
comparing and contrasting, and finding
relationships to reach the teachers’ goals.
 The Teacher’s Role

• Establish positive expectation

• Keep students on task
• Actively guide the learning activity
• Guides to increase student achievement
• Does not display or demonstrate information for students
and then explain it
• Presents carefully chosen examples and guides students as
they form their own understanding of the topic
• Teachers must be expert in questioning
Goals for Inductive Model

• To help students acquire a deep and thorough

understanding of specific topics.
• It is designed to put students in an active role in
the process of constructing their understanding.
Planning with the Inductive
Model

Identifying topics
Specifying Goals
Selecting Examples
 Implementing Lessons Using the Inductive
Model

Lessons using the Inductive Model begin with a short

introduction followed by an open-ended phase in which
students are encouraged to make observations and
comparisons among examples. The open-ended phase is
followed by students’ gradual convergence toward the goal
under guidance of the teacher. Lessons are completed when
the students are able to define a concept or state a
relationship in a principle, generalizations, or academic rule,
and apply the topic to a new, and ideally real-world
situation.
Emphasis on thinking and understanding

Promoting deep understanding of topics and developing

critical thinking abilities is accomplished primarily with teacher
questioning. Questions such as, “Why?” “How to we know?”
and “What would happen if?” promote both thinking and
understanding. Although teachers typically ask few of these
questions, with effort and practice using them can become
virtually automatic.
Assessing Student Learning

Effective assessments are consistent with

teachers’ goals. Both traditional and alternative
assessments in the form of performance assessments
can be used to measure student understanding.
CONCEPT – ATTAINMENT MODELS

The model uses positive and negative examples to

illustrate concepts and these become the basis for
students’ constructions. This model is consistent with
the view of constructivism which suggest that learners
“construct” their own understanding of the way the
world works rather than having it presented to them
in an already organized form.
Social Structure of the Model

The student feels free to think and test their ideas. The
teacher’s role is to help create an environment in which students
feel free to think and conjecture without fear for criticism or
ridicule, and both teachers performed this role very well.

Goals for the Concept – Attainment Model

Helping students develop concepts and relationship

among them and giving them practice with critical thinking
processes.
Planning Lessons with the Concept – Attainment
Model

Identifying topics
The importance of clear goals
Selecting examples
Preparing non examples
Sequencing examples and non examples
Phases in the Goal Attainment Model

The Concept – Attainment Model occurs in four phases. The activity

begins when the teacher presents examples and continues until the students
have isolated a single hypothesis.

Phase I. Presenting Examples

The teacher presents the students with examples. Typically, it will be

an example and a non-example

Phase II. Analyzing Hypotheses

The teacher asks the students to hypothesize possible concept names.

These hypotheses are then the focal points for the analysis.
The Cyclical Process

– The teacher cycles through 1 and 2 by alternately

presenting examples and analyzing the hypotheses. In the process,
ask the students to explain why they accepted or rejected the
hypothesis.

Two Reasons for asking students to explain why they

accepted or rejected the hypothesis.

Articulating their reasoning helps them develop their

thinking.
Other students benefit from hearing their reasoning described in
words.
Phase III. Closure

Once the students have isolated a hypothesis, the lesson is

ready for closure. The teacher asks the students to identify the
critical characteristics of the concept and state a definition.

Phase IV. Application

Designed to increase students’ understanding of the

concept and help them generalize to new examples. It provides
students with opportunities to test their understanding with
additional examples, and it gives the teacher feedback about that
understanding.
 Using the Concept – Attainment Model to Increase the
Motivation and Self Regulation

Increasing Learner Motivation

Implementing lessons - the model is flexible and can be fun for both
the teacher and the students. It is presented as a game – type.
Adds variety to classroom activities, developing self-regulation

Developing Self – Regulation

Encouraging students to think about their own thinking helped them

recognize that the process they were involved in had utility beyond the
classroom.
Implementing Concept – Attainment Model Activity
It is important to consider the developmental level of the students.

Concept – Attainment Model II

It is a modification in the basic procedure designed to increase the emphasis on

hypothesis testing and critical thinking.
It begins in the same way as the basic procedure. But instead of presenting
subsequent examples one at a time as in Concept – Attainment Model I, the
teacher displays all the examples. The students are encouraged to scan the list
for examples that might substantiate the hypothesis on the list. They choose an
example and indicate whether they think it is positive or negative.
 They also state which hypothesis would have to be
rejected if their classification is correct. The teacher verifies the
classification. If the classification is correct, the appropriate
changes are made in the list of hypothesis; if incorrect, the
hypotheses are reanalyzed in the light of the new information.
The students then select additional examples and continue the
process until one hypothesis is isolated.

Goal
For the students to develop efficiency in their hypothesis
testing.
Concept – Attainment Model III

Designed to extend the process of hypothesis testing

even further.
With Concept – Attainment Model III, after seeing the
first two examples identified and labeled, students
hypothesize concept names, but then they must supply
their own examples and test the hypothesis.
Advantages:

3. The opportunity it affords learners to gather data.

4. More authentic or realistic than Concept – Attainment Model I
or Concept – Attainment Model II.
5. Students actively investigate a concept they don’t fully
understand.
6. Students can use of their own background knowledge and
initiative in investigating hypotheses
7. This increases their control of the learning activity, which has
been identified by researchers as a factor increasing learner’s
intrinsic motivation
 Assessing Student Outcomes of Concept – Attainment Activities

Two outcomes:
4.Deeper understanding of concepts
5.Increases critical thinking activities

Assessing Understanding of Concepts

Students’ attainment of a concept can be measured in one or more

of four ways:
10.They identify or supply examples of the concept not previously
encountered
11.They identify the concepts characteristics
12.They relate the concept in other concepts
13.They define concept.
 Assessing Student’s Critical Thinking Abilities

More important than assessing their understanding of

the concept itself. It involves simultaneous assessment of
content understanding.