Teaching Students to Learn Effectively: A Cognitive Science Starter Guide for Educators
Introduction
Teaching students how to learn is just as important as teaching them what to learn and when to learn. Effective study strategies can transform a student’s academic experience, turning frustration into mastery. One such evidence-based strategy is the SOAR method—Select, Organize, Associate, Regulate. Developed by Dr. Kenneth A. Kiewra, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the SOAR method provides a structured approach to learning that addresses common inefficiencies in how students study.
Grounded in cognitive research, this method emphasizes four essential processes: selecting critical information, organizing it meaningfully, associating it with prior knowledge, and regulating one’s ability to retrieve and apply it. Each step plays a crucial role in improving comprehension, retention, and overall academic success. But let’s try to understand the problems with learning.
The problems of learning and preparing for exams
Incomplete Note-Taking Students often fail to capture essential details during lectures or while reading, leaving gaps in their understanding. Research highlights that many students only record a fraction of what is said in lectures, particularly when information is not explicitly written down by the instructor. This omission results in fragmented knowledge, making it difficult to revisit and fully comprehend the material later.
Linear Organization of Notes Organizing notes in linear formats, such as lists or outlines, may feel natural but often fails to highlight relationships between ideas. These formats can obscure how concepts connect, preventing students from building a cohesive understanding of the material. For example, a linear list of historical events might overlook the cause-and-effect relationships between them, which are crucial for deeper learning.
Piecemeal Learning When students treat information as isolated facts rather than part of a larger conceptual framework, it becomes difficult to recall and apply the material. Cognitive science emphasizes that learning is most effective when students associate new information with prior knowledge. Without these connections, their understanding remains fragmented, akin to trying to solve a puzzle by looking at individual pieces without seeing the whole picture.
Redundant Strategies Strategies like rereading notes, highlighting, or recopying information often feel like active study methods but contribute little to long-term retention. These approaches lack the cognitive engagement required for deep processing and do not challenge students to retrieve or apply knowledge. As a result, students may feel prepared in the short term but struggle to recall or use the material during exams.
Why These Problems Persist
These ineffective habits often persist because they provide an illusion of productivity. For example, rereading and highlighting may create a sense of familiarity with the material, but familiarity is not the same as understanding. Similarly, linear note-taking or piecemeal learning may seem efficient during lectures but fails to support the cognitive processes needed for deep learning.
Additionally, many students are unaware of alternative strategies that align with how the brain processes and retains information. Without guidance, they default to methods that feel intuitive but do not optimize learning.
The Cognitive Science Behind SOAR
The SOAR method is based on the information processing model of cognition, which explains how we process, store, and retrieve information. It involves three types of memory:
Sensory Memory: Takes in external stimuli, such as lectures or written material.
Working Memory: Processes about 5–9 pieces of information at a time, actively organizing and analyzing it.
Long-Term Memory: Stores knowledge for later retrieval and application.
By guiding students through these stages—attention, storage, encoding, and retrieval—the SOAR method optimizes learning. Each element of the strategy directly contributes to long-term retention and effective application of knowledge.
1. Select: Ensuring Complete and Effective Note-Taking
The foundation of learning begins with gathering complete and accurate information. Incomplete note-taking leads to knowledge gaps that hinder understanding and retention. Research shows students often capture less than 10% of verbal insights in lectures, especially when they aren’t written down.
Active Engagement: Students must actively focus on identifying critical points during lectures or readings.
Completeness: Ensuring notes capture all key ideas, including unwritten verbal insights.
Prioritization: Distinguishing between main ideas, supporting details, and extraneous information.
What to do
To ensure complete and accurate notes, students can jot down verbal insights shared by teachers that are not written on the board. After class, they should review and refine their notes by consulting peers, textbooks, or recordings. For instance, after a biology lecture, students might revisit their notes to clarify complex processes like cellular respiration and fill in any missed details.
Teach Note-Taking Techniques: Introduce systems like Cornell Notes to help students focus on main ideas.
Encourage Post-Class Refinement: Prompt students to review and expand their notes using peers, textbooks, or recorded lectures.
Provide Note-Taking Cues: Use repetition or phrases like “This is important” to emphasize key concepts.
2. Organize: Structuring Information for Retention
Linear notes, such as lists or outlines, often obscure relationships between ideas, making it difficult for students to see the "big picture." Organizing information visually or in non-linear ways reveals connections, promotes deeper understanding, and improves memory retention.
Highlight Relationships: Tools like tables, flowcharts, or diagrams emphasize connections.
Reorganization: Reformatting notes clarifies ambiguities and helps identify gaps.
Visual Representations: Mind maps, charts, or hierarchical diagrams provide mental “landmarks” that are easier to recall.
What to do
Encourage students to restructure their notes into non-linear formats to highlight relationships. For example, a history lesson on the Industrial Revolution could be converted into a table comparing pre- and post-industrial economies or a flowchart showing key innovations and their impacts. Similarly, a science student might use a mind map to connect steps in the water cycle.
Provide Graphic Organizers: Use templates like Venn diagrams or flowcharts to guide note organization.
Model Reorganization: Demonstrate how to convert lists into charts or concept maps.
Collaborative Activities: Assign group tasks to create shared visual summaries of lessons.
3. Associate: Connecting New Knowledge to Prior Learning
We learn best when we connect new ideas to what we already know. Associations help students integrate information into existing mental frameworks, making it easier to understand, remember, and apply.
Building Schemata: Associating new knowledge with prior knowledge strengthens mental frameworks.
Cross-Subject Connections: Linking concepts across disciplines deepens understanding.
Deep Processing: Exploring relationships between ideas promotes critical thinking.
What do do
Students can create meaningful connections between new information and prior knowledge. For example, when learning about supply and demand in economics, they might relate it to their experience of holiday pricing trends for toys. Analogies, such as comparing photosynthesis to cooking a meal, further help students bridge new concepts with familiar ideas.
Encourage Personal Connections: Ask students how new material relates to their experiences or prior lessons.
Use Analogies and Metaphors: Relate abstract concepts to familiar ideas.
Facilitate Reflective Thinking: Pose questions like “How is this concept similar to or different from what we’ve learned before?”
Example Activity
In a history lesson on the Industrial Revolution, students might connect:
New Information: Mechanization of factories.
Prior Knowledge: Economic principles like supply and demand.
4. Regulate: Practicing Retrieval for Mastery
True learning is demonstrated through the ability to recall and apply information. Regulation emphasizes practicing retrieval, which strengthens memory and boosts confidence. Passive review strategies like rereading notes are far less effective than active recall.
Active Recall: Students practice retrieving information through quizzes, discussions, or teaching.
Error-Driven Learning: Mistakes highlight gaps in understanding, and correcting them improves retention.
Retrieval Variety: Practicing recall in varied contexts (e.g., different question types or formats) improves flexibility.
Spacing and Interleaving: Spacing study sessions over time and mixing topics reinforce connections and long-term retention.
What to do
Self-assessment and retrieval practice are critical. A math student might create a mixed-problem quiz combining new chapter material with earlier topics, while a language student might use spaced repetition with flashcards to learn vocabulary. Low-stakes quizzes and explaining concepts to peers are also effective ways to test understanding and reinforce recall.
Frequent Low-Stakes Assessments: Use quizzes or exit tickets to provide retrieval opportunities.
Peer Teaching: Encourage students to explain concepts to classmates.
Gamified Learning: Use flashcards or spaced repetition tools to reinforce material.
Summary
The SOAR method—Select, Organize, Associate, Regulate—offers a powerful framework for effective learning. By helping students gather complete information, structure it meaningfully, connect it to prior knowledge, and practice retrieval, educators can foster deeper comprehension and long-term retention.
The SOAR method—Select, Organize, Associate, Regulate—is a structured learning framework designed to transfer information into long-term memory by aligning with how the brain processes and retains knowledge. It begins with Select, where students take complete, thorough notes, ensuring no critical information is missed, including verbal insights. Next, Organize emphasizes restructuring notes into non-linear formats like tables, charts, or mind maps, which highlight connections and relationships between ideas for deeper understanding. Associate builds on this by linking new material to existing knowledge through analogies, interdisciplinary connections, and real-world applications, which strengthens encoding and makes recall easier. Finally, Regulate focuses on practicing retrieval through self-assessment, quizzes, interleaved practice, and spaced repetition to reinforce neural pathways and ensure knowledge is accessible and applicable. Together, these steps transform fragmented learning into a cohesive process that enhances comprehension, retention, and the ability to retrieve and apply knowledge effectively.