Elucidating the mechanisms of spontaneous learning strategies use and the applications to educational practices

A project supported by a grant-in-aid for scientific research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

The overall aim of this research project is to promote students’ spontaneous use of effective learning strategies. To achieve this aim, the project has four main objectives:

1. ✴To elucidate the mechanisms that underlie students’ use of learning strategies, including the key conceptualizations and mental representations that are involved;
   

2. ✴To better understand how students’ perceptions and communications play a role in determining their learning strategies use;
   

3. ✴To learn from intercultural observations and comparisons of methods employed to promote effective learning strategies use;
   

4. ✴To propose and evaluate concrete teaching methods for the promotion of effective learning strategies use that can readily be utilized in real education settings.
   

In this project, the term “learning strategies” is defined broadly to include cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, and use of external resources. This project concerns the learning strategies use of students from primary to tertiary level.