VOLUME 18
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ISSUE 2
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OCTOBER 2019
THE TOOLBOX
A Teaching and Learning Resource for Instructors
HARNESSING THE POWER OF SELF-EXPLANATION FOR DEEPER LEARNING F
requently, faculty rely on methods that have long been part of the instructional process including lectures, assigned readings, video content, online discussions, and other web-based resources. The challenge is that faculty are generally unsure of the level at which these techniques, individually and collectively, contribute to the process of learning. Willingham (2012) argued that we can do better than simply guessing and should rely more heavily on science by using evidence-based methods that promote learning.
Brad Garner Director of Faculty Enrichment, National & Global Campus Indiana Wesleyan University brad.garner@indwes.edu Christopher Devers Assistant Professor, School of Education Johns Hopkins University
One well-documented, evidence-based strategy that helps solidify and organize students’ thinking about course content is self-explanation, defined by Roy and Chi (2005) as: … a domain general constructive activity that engages students in active learning and insures that learners attended to the material in a meaningful way while effectively monitoring their evolving understanding. (p. 272)
Chi, Leeuw, Chiu, and Lavancher (1994) argue that one of the unique features of engaging in self-explanation is the necessity for the learner to integrate new information with existing knowledge. Chi (2000) suggested that this process provides a pathway for learners to “repair” existing mental models by resolving informational gaps, areas of needed revisions, or the presence of conflicts. These types of selfcorrections are often difficult in situations where learners are simply listening or watching the presentation of new material. As such, self-explanation often increases learning across a number of conditions.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
— Albert Einstein
Self-explanation, as a strategy for learning or assessment, can be traced back to psychologist and learning theory pioneer Robert Gagne (Gagne & Smith, 1962). Subsequent studies have investigated the ways that self-explanation can be integrated into the process of teaching, learning, and assessment (Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989; Chi et al., 1994); as a study skill (Rittle-Johnson & Loehr, 2017) or National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina
www.sc.edu/fye/toolbox
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