NWO projects

Test taking seems to be an effective and efficient way to consolidate knowledge. However, both teachers and students regard tests primarily as diagnostic instruments and not as learning instruments. Moreover, students think that they learn more from repeated reading than from repeated testing. In this research project, the read-recite-review (3R) strategy, which is a truncated version of Robinson's (1941) SQ3R (survey-question-read-recite-review) strategy, is used to help students take more advantage of self-testing to improve their learning.

The testing-effect signifies that a free-recall test after initial study improves recollection of wordlists more than restudying them. Since most educational materials are more complex in content than wordlists, the current proposal aims to test the conditions under which the testing-effect is optimized in an educational context. Instead of wordlists and recall tests, instructional texts and cognitive assessments will be used to explore

Het hedendaagse ‘nieuwe leren’ richt zich op leeruitkomsten met de volgende eigenschappen: duurzaam, flexibel, functioneel, betekenisvol, generaliseerbaar en toepassingsgericht. Daarin passen pedagogisch–didactische methoden die actief van aard zijn, waarin leerlingen leren van ervaringen, en waarin de docent een begeleidende rol heeft. Binnen dit leren speelt tevens transfer van complexe cognitieve vaardigheden een belangrijke rol.

Recent instructional theories focus on authentic learning tasks that are based on real-life tasks as the driving force for learning. The general assumption is that such tasks help students to integrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for effective task performance; give them the opportunity to learn to co-ordinate constituent skills that make up complex behavior, and eventually enable them to transfer what is learned to daily life or work settings.

According to Confucius, there are three ways of learning: 1) reflection, the noblest, 2) imitation, the easiest, and 3) experience, the bitterest. This project proposes to combine the noblest and easiest ways, by investigating whether students’ reflection can be stimulated through observing and imitating examples.

Vocational education sees a trend toward competency-based formats using integrated environments. These integrated environments require teacher and learner skills that have not been studied thoroughly in this domain. Research in other fields suggests that deliberate practice and self-directed learning (SDL) skills are key competencies. This project seeks to investigate micro processes of goal setting, choice of learning tasks and experiences, monitoring and self-evaluation and their influence on learning outcomes.