Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive Strategies
Purpose:  To provide a structure for learning that actively promotes the comprehension and retention of knowledge through the use of engaging strategies that acknowledge the brain's limitations of capacity and processing.
from Instructional Strategies for Engaging Learners. Guilford County Schools TF, 2002
An Introduction to Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive strategies areuseful tools in assisting students with learning problems. The term "cognitive strategies" in its simplest form is the use of the mind (cognition) to solve a problem or complete a task. Cognitive strategies may also be referred to as procedural facilitators (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987), procedural prompts (Rosenshine, 1997) or scaffolds (Palincsar & Brown, 1984). A related termis metacognition, the self-reflection or "thinking about thinking" necessary for students to learn effectively (Baker, Gersten, & Scanlon, 2002).
Cognitive strategies provide a structure for learning when a task cannot be completed through a series of steps. For example, algorithms in mathematics provide a series of steps to solve a problem. Attention to the steps results in successful completion of the problem.In contrast, reading comprehension, a complex task, is a good example of a task that does not follow a series of steps. Further explanation is provided below.
A cognitive strategy serves to support the learner as he or she develops internal procedures that enable him/her to perform tasks that are complex (Rosenshine, 1997). Reading comprehension is an area where cognitive strategies areimportant. A self-questioning strategy can help students understand what they read. Rosenshine states that the act of creating questions does not lead directly to comprehension. Instead, students search the text and combine information as they generate questions; then they comprehend what they have read.
The use of cognitive strategies can increase the efficiency with which the learner approaches alearning task. These academic tasks can include, but are not limited to, remembering and applying information from course content, constructing sentences and paragraphs, editing written work, paraphrasing, and classifying information to be learned.
In a classroom where cognitive strategies are used, the teacher fulfills a pivotal role, bridging the gap between student and content/skill to be learned.This role requires an understanding of the task to be completed, as well as knowledge of an approach (or approaches) to the task that he/she can communicate to the learner.
Content Enhancement
Impacting both the task and the learner using cognitive strategies is referred to as Content Enhancement. Bulgren, Deshler, and Schumaker (1997) highlight three important teacher activities in their modelof content enhancement:
1. Teachers evaluate the content they cover.
2. Teachers determine the necessary approaches to learning for student success
3. Teachers teach with routines and instructional supports that assist students as they apply appropriate techniques and strategies.
In this way, the teacher emphasizes what the students should learn, or the "product" of learning. Inaddition, the teacher models the how or "process" of learning.
Content Evaluation
When a teacher is comfortable with the content he/she is teaching, he/she knows which parts are the most important, the most interesting and the easiest (or hardest) to learn. The teacher evaluates the content with various questions in mind:
• How important is this information to my students?
• Is any of thisinformation irrelevant to the point I can minimize or exclude it?
• How will my students use this information beyond my classroom (in general education classrooms, college and/or career settings, etc.)
• What parts of this information do I think my students will grasp quickly?
• What parts of this information do I think my students will need "extras" (more time, more examples,...