Chapter 7, page 134
STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND REASONINGIn the following sections, we will discuss some of the strategies that researchers have found to be
important in effective learning, problem solving, and reasoning. We will begin with general strategies for
self-regulation, because they provide a framework for other sets of strategies. We will then follow with
strategies for comprehension, strategies for problem solving, strategies for writing, and strategies for
reasoning.
General-Purpose Self-Regulation Strategies
Effective students use a variety of general purpose self-regulation strategies, which they can use in
many different learning and problem solving situations. Five of these strategies are particularly useful (see
Butler & Winne, 1995; Zimmerman, 1998): goal setting, self-monitoring and self-evaluation, time
management, self-regulation of interest and motivation, and executive control.
Goal setting. Goal setting occurs when we specify what we aim to accomplish when we undertake
a task (Locke & Latham, 2006). Goals can be long-term (e.g., a ninth grade math student setting a goal of
passing AP calculus when she is a senior), intermediate-term (e.g., the math student aiming to get an A on
the final exam in one month), or short-term (such as the math student aiming to get 95% of today’s
homework problems correct).
Effective learners and problem solvers set goals at all levels, though short-term goals are particularly
productive (e.g., Getz & Rainey, 2001; Weldon & Yun, 2000). Effective short-term goals are often
established to master a particular strategy, rather than focusing just on the outcome (Kitsantas, Reiser, &
Doster, 2004). For example, the math student from our example above might set the short-term goal of
making sure she can explain each step of the worked-out problems in the book to herself, rather than (or in
addition to) aiming for a particular score on the homework assignment. Likewise, a soccer player might set
a goal of keeping her head down when shooting rather than focusing on whether a goal was actually scored.
By focusing on using targeted strategies or skills, learners improve their capacities, which enable them to
achieve practical goals such as getting A’s on exams or scoring more goals in games.
It can also be productive for learners to focus first on strategy goals (goals of mastering a strategy)
and then shift to outcome goals (goals of getting a particular result) (Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1999). For
instance, a student learning vocabulary words in German might initially set a strategy goal of mastering the
keyword method as a strategy for learning new words. After achieving this goal, he might set an outcome
goal of learning 400 new words prior to the final examination. Strategy goals are also referred to as
process goals because effective strategies provide the process by which one achieves outcome goals.
Outcome goals are also called product goals because they refer to the finished products that one is trying
to achieve.