The teacher's role in facilitating memory and study strategy development in the elementary school classroom

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Educational psychology
• Child development

Background:

• Cognitive processing activities are crucial for learning.
• Teacher instruction in cognitive strategies varies by grade level and content.
• The impact of teacher suggestions on student strategy use is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To observe elementary school teachers' instruction in cognitive processing activities.
• To investigate the relationship between teacher suggestions and children's use of memory strategies.
• To examine the role of school experience in developing children's memory skills.

Main Methods:

• Observation of 69 elementary school teachers instructing cognitive processing activities.
• Selection of children from three achievement levels in classrooms with varying teacher suggestions.
• Evaluation of children's memory strategy performance after training.

Main Results:

• Cognitive strategy instruction was infrequent, varying by grade and content.
• Teachers of older students (grades 4+) more frequently provided rationales for strategies.
• Average and low-achieving students whose teachers frequently suggested strategies showed better strategy maintenance and use.

Conclusions:

• Teacher instruction in cognitive strategies is infrequent but varies by grade.
• Teacher suggestions significantly impact average and low-achieving students' use of memory strategies.
• School experiences, particularly teacher-led strategy suggestions, play a role in developing children's memory skills.