Students are asked to explain their processing during learning. For example, this might look like a student explaining their reasoning behind choosing x as opposed to y as the answer.

Rated as having moderate utility due to unknown efficacy. This study habit is able to be generalized across academic subjects and age of students, but more research is needed to determine whether self-explanation is effective over longer periods of time.


Concordia College - Moorhead

Moderate utility learning strategies show some generalization across a few variables but the efficacy of boosting academic performance is limited.
- Elaborative Interrogation
- Self-Explanation
- Interleaved Practice

Recommended for certain students/learning situations

Moderate Utility Learning Strategies

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. https://doi-org.cordproxy.mnpals.net/10.1177/1529100612453266


Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and  Educational Psychology

Students are taught to question why? And explain the answer themselves to enable detailed recall. For example, students might be asked to explain a stated fact. Variation across past studies include the questions “Why does it make sense that...?”, “Why is this true?”, and simply “Why?” However, the majority of studies have used prompts following the general format, “Why would this fact be true of this [X] and not some other [X]?” (8).

Rates as moderate due to current research on generalization. Elaborative interrogation works well for many factual topics, but may not be appropriate for more dense and complex material. Research also shows that this study method “may be limited for learners with low levels of domain knowledge” (11). 


Elaborative Interrogation

Self-Explanation

Students study a variety of materials in one study session as opposed to one skill per session (blocked practice). For example, a student might study 5 different math formulas in one interleaved practice session.

Rated as moderate utility. Research shows it can be effective on student’s learning and retention, but the presence of null effects shows inconsistent results. It is otherwise has wide generalization and shows promise if researched more.


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