"Joy in learning can only come with the ability to learn consciously," says Mikk Granström, a junior researcher at Tallinn University. Although Estonian students perform well on the PISA tests, previous studies indicate that their enjoyment of school is lacking. In his soon-to-be-defended doctoral thesis, Granström highlights a potential reason for the declining school enjoyment among Estonian children from grade to grade: students struggle to consciously choose learning strategies, making independent mastery of study material a challenge.

The conscious selection of learning strategies helps students better plan and manage their studies, and teachers play a significant role in developing these skills. "For instance, if you have a test in three weeks and know how to consciously break down the material into manageable parts, you'll experience much less stress and likely achieve better results," the junior researcher illustrates.

Granström was broadly interested in how well Estonian teachers and students understand different learning strategies. He also observed classrooms in Estonian schools to see how teachers teach these strategies to students. "We observed that teachers use good strategies. However, what's missing is the explanation to students about what they are doing and why, and there's a lack of discussion around the learning strategies themselves," he points out.

What the teacher is not telling you

A learning strategy is a specific action that a person takes to facilitate learning. "For example, I read, make diagrams, look at pictures, solve example problems or test myself," lists Mikk Granström.

Learning strategies can be categorized into those that support deep learning and those that support surface learning, or into effective and less effective strategies. Deep learning strategies connect new material with prior knowledge, while surface learning strategies often result in information being retained only until a test is completed. "More challenging learning strategies include creating diagrams and concept maps, and self-testing. Simpler ones include rereading and underlining," Granström explains.

His research showed that Estonian teachers value effective learning strategies more highly than students do. Observational data confirmed that teachers do use a variety of learning strategies in the classroom. "However, only a very small number of teachers explained why a particular learning strategy should be used, such as why reviewing previously learned material was important or why a math problem should be solved in a certain way at home. There were very few such teachers, and this is a problem," the junior researcher points out.

Granström's primary recommendation to educators is to take a bit of time from the lesson to teach students how to use different learning strategies. "This increases the likelihood that students will consciously acquire learning skills," he argues.

The main criticism from teachers is that there isn't enough time in the lesson to explain strategies. Granström disagrees, suggesting that teaching learning strategies should be seen as an investment in the future: "Initially, we might sacrifice some material, but later on, the entire learning process will be faster. We're investing in dividends that we'll reap with very high interest in the future."

He believes that strategies should be taught from the first grade onward. "In the lower grades, students should start with simpler strategies and later move on to more complex ones," he says. Ideally, if students begin with underlining and reviewing, they will have mastered even the more complex strategies by high school, making it easier to acquire new material. "Of course, students are different and absorb information in different ways. If they master just two or three strategies, but do so very well, that's already a success," Granström acknowledges.

Let the student do it

According to Mikk Granström, the most surprising finding from the student survey results was that students rated self-testing as a learning strategy more highly than teachers did. "Teachers often use self-testing as an assessment method, but it's actually a very effective learning strategy. The students have figured this out," he observes.

In other areas, students tend to value less effective strategies more highly. One of the most common is massed practice, or cramming. "This is so prevalent because if you cram hard the night before and take the test the next morning, the result is often good," he explains. However, a month or two later, all the learned material might be forgotten, and when the exam approaches, students have to revisit material from several classes back. "Long-term memory retention occurs when you repeatedly recall previously learned material using learning strategies," Granström contrasts.

Besides cramming, students also favored underlining text and repeated rereading. "These strategies create the illusion of learning. The more I read the text, the more familiar it becomes," the junior researcher notes.

Of course, Granström points out that the choice of learning strategy depends on the subject matter, the students' age and the learning objective. "In mathematics, you constantly need to recall previously learned material and connect new problems to past ones. Eventually, certain formulas and skills stick, and knowledge becomes ingrained," he says. When learning foreign language vocabulary, students might benefit from looking up meanings themselves. In science subjects, on the other hand, students could be encouraged to find relevant videos and images and discuss them.

The key, according to Granström, is that the student should be the most active participant in the lesson. "Let the student create diagrams, search for information and prepare slides. The student needs to be the active party in the learning process, which increases the likelihood that what they learn will stick," he explains. Granström describes the teacher's role as that of a guiding mentor who can direct and explore alongside the students.

After defending his dissertation, the next step, he says, will be disseminating the research findings: tha plan is to begin with teacher training sessions in schools and undertake various follow-up activities. "We want to do this in a very practical way. Teachers generally have good theoretical knowledge. Now, we just need to help them develop the practical skills to integrate learning strategies into their teaching, including how to teach them," he emphasizes.

Based on his research, Granström primarily recommends that Estonian students should ask their teacher "why" when the teacher does something – like showing a picture or assigning a problem. "For Estonian teachers, I would recommend consciously teaching different learning strategies in the classroom, giving clear instructions on how to use them and discussing the advantages of various strategies," he advises.

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