Researchers at the University of Kansas have been deeply involved in researching learning strategies since the 1970s and have done much to define and articulate the benefits of strategy instruction, particularly for students with learning disabilities (LD). This work has resulted in one of the most well-researched models for teaching students to use learning strategies. This model has been known for years as the SIM, which stands for the Strategic Instruction Model. Over the past 25 years, SIM has emerged into a multi-system, comprehensive school-wide approach with coordinated evidence-based teaching and learning components at its core.
The teaching component of SIM is made up of a series of teacher-focused Content Enhancement Teaching Routines designed so that a teacher can deliver organized content in an engaging and learner-friendly manner. One set of routines, for example, walks teachers through the planning of individual lessons, whole units, or even complete courses. Other routines offer practical recommendations for guiding students through an exploration of overarching concepts that may connect to material learned previously.
The Learning Strategies Curriculum of SIM is a series of interconnected, student-centered strategies designed to transform weak or passive learners into students who know how to learn and apply their knowledge and skills actively across various learning environments. The Learning Strategies Curriculum has seven discrete strands and contains more than 30 strategies to improve skills and performance related to:
- Reading
- Expressive Writing
- Math and Problem Solving
- Studying and Remembering
- Assignments and Test Taking
- Motivation
- Interacting with Others
Taken together, these teaching and learning strategies can greatly improve learning outcomes for students entering the classroom with different learning styles and abilities. When this sort of strategic instruction is coordinated and implemented across teachers and environments--say, a general education and special education classroom--student successes can be even more pronounced!
More on SIM Research
Content Enhancement Teaching Routine:
The Course Organizer Routine is designed to help teachers plan courses around core content. The routine is used to introduce central concepts to students at the beginning of a course and is revisited throughout the course to relate newly acquired knowledge to main ideas already learned.
Research Findings:
Teachers who use this routine spend more time introducing main course themes than do teachers who have not learned the routine.
LD students in classes that used the Course Organizer Routine correctly answered an average of eight "big idea" questions by the end of the course, while LD students in the class that did not use the routine answered an average of only four.1
Learning Strategies Curriculum:
SCORE Skills: Social Skills for Cooperative Groups is designed to equip students with a set of skills to work effectively in groups. Students learn to:
Share ideas
Compliment others
Offer help or encouragement
Recommend changes nicely
Exercise self-control
Research Findings:
Students who learned SCORE Skills improved from an average of 25% cooperative skills used in a group setting to 78%. By comparison, a group of students who did not receive training had an average of 25% and 28% for the same time periods.2
Footnotes:
1 http://www.kucrl.org/sim/brochures/CEoverview.pdf
2 http://www.kucrl.org/sim/strategies/score.shtml