Consolidating Learning

Presenting information to students is only the first step in helping them learn a subject. Teachers should also aid students with an important next step: consolidating their understanding of the material.

In a recent presentation at the School of Education, psychologist Donald Meichenbaum claimed that learners need to deliberately work at internalizing new knowledge. The ability to recall knowledge does not assure that students will understand how to use it. They must also learn how to monitor "how they think." He recommends that teachers plan times when students practice how they think with the information they have just learned. Below are some activities you might use to show your students how to integrate course information into their thinking.

Mini-Lessons

Teachers can demonstrate how thinking processes connect course information to thoughtful understanding of a topic. Here are some techniques.

Quick Thinks. Stop your lecture for a couple minutes and give your students a Quick Think question. These questions ask students to reflect on the material just covered. Ask the CIRT for a list of sample questions.

Think-Aloud. As you present material, incorporate process questions to model for your students how scholars think when using this knowledge. "Why is this done this way?" "What would you do next?" "Is this adequate?" For a list of process questions, contact the CIRT.

Process Questions. Pose process questions or suggest tasks. Let students write or talk in pairs. Discuss their responses. Request the list of process questions mentioned above.

Peer Talk

Students can be excellent tutors for their peers during the consolidation phases of a lesson. Below are some ideas on how to use group work to get students to reflect on how they can arrive at better answers.

Peer questions. Divide the class into pairs. Have the first person attempt to apply your course ideas to a problem. Provide the second person with a list of critical thinking questions to ask as their partner explains her/his approach to the problem. Contact the CIRT for a list of questions to guide critical thinking.

Triads. Break the class into groups of three. Person A should present a position on a topic. Person B should respond with process or critical thinking questions that help develop the first person's position. Person C observes the interaction and shares her/his thoughts about how the dialogue enhanced person A's point.

Jigsaws. A jigsaw activity divides the class into task teams (usually 4-5 members), assigns each team member part of the task, and allows time for those with similar parts of the task to meet together before the task team works on its problem. Make sure one part of the task involves posing process questions.

Several of these activities are explained in more detail in a chapter on "Reciprocal Teaching" by Barbara Millis and Philip Cottell. Ask the CIRT for a copy.

More Practice

Teachers can help students practice self-monitoring skills by including consolidation tasks in their assignments. Some ideas:

Process Explanation. Replace one question from a homework set with the assignment to explain how they reached an answers to one of the prior questions.

Edited Homework. Assign students to homework teams. Have each homework assignment reviewed by at least one member of the team before it is handed in. Where students have different responses (or approaches) have them write a short paragraph explaining how they reached their conclusions.

Dyadic Essay Confrontations. Assign students the task of writing an essay question over the material and drafting a short model response. In class, students are paired and must write a response to each other's question. Then, students compare responses with the model answer, discussing any differences. Students should identify any major disagreements in how they thought through the answer for discussion with the teacher.

Dialectic Journal. Have students write journal entries on the left side of the pages. In class, devise and assignment that has them (or a peer) use questions about thought processes to write observations, insights, and suggestions on the right side of the page.

Final Comments

For many teachers, it is a mystery how students can recall information one day but be unable to incorporate it into the way they think about questions and problems the next. Meichenbaum argues that this phenomenon occurs when we do not explicitly teach students how to monitor the ways they use course material in their thinking. By deliberately creating moments when we demonstrate and coach students on the thinking processes they are using, we help students learn how to incorporate course ideas into their thinking. This often neglected phase of learning can become a powerful time for students to consolidate their understanding of our disciplines.

This Teaching Tip was first published by Indiana State University’s, Center for Teaching and Learning on September 13, 1999.