Elaboration: An effective learning technique for school goers
This study technique was introduced by American educational theorist and researcher, Charles Reigeluth at Indiana University, in the late 1970s. Elaboration strategy helps students make connections between their lives and past knowledge in order to absorb new concepts and lessons. To put it in another way, children can retain new knowledge better when they can connect it to what they already know. Hence, in the elaboration method, students are encouraged to ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions to have a deeper understanding of any topic or subject that they’re studying.
What are the types of Elaboration Study Technique?
Elaboration methods are aimed to draw on and integrate with a student's existing knowledge base in order for new information to be retained. This can be done in a visual or spoken manner or through keywords. Facilitated discussion questions, analogies, and mnemonics are all examples of elaboration strategies. The different types of elaboration strategies are described here.
Elaboration of Processing: When introducing new concepts, providing several examples helps students absorb and later recall information.
Elaborate Interrogation: When learners are prompted to answer "why" questions about the content they read/learn, their learning improves. They are doing so in order to reconstruct more meaningful information by combining new knowledge with prior knowledge.
Elaborative Rehearsal: Using rehearsal strategies such as mnemonics to elaborate information improves students’ learning. It leads to more varied and in-depth processing of information by students.
How can teachers give examples using Elaboration Study Technique?
While the kids are being told to study something, they can be asked questions related to their subjects such as:
- When and why did the First World War start?
- Which rocks are formed from molten material and how?
- When was the amendment to the Poor Law made? How does Charles Dickens explore this in his work, ‘A Christmas Carol’?
- What are derivatives in calculus? How do they work?
The children should be encouraged to answer the questions as and when they are asked by the teachers. Doing so would ensure that the kids work on elaborating or describing the connection between ideas and how they work. These ideas could be similar or different and provide an in-depth understanding to the school goers during their school exams.
What are the advantages of using Elaboration Study Technique?
As already mentioned, this teaching method benefits students in more ways than one. Here are a few of them.
Promotes inquiry-based learning
Students can enhance their critical thinking skills by using their elaboration skills to analyse the validity and reliability of a science experiment. As a result, elaboration interrogation is an excellent tool for encouraging student discussion.
Boosts cross-curricular connections
The teacher can help students make connections through elaboration by asking simple questions. For example, they could ask kids to describe a concept or activity from another subject that is relevant to their current class activity. Using elaboration in the classroom on a regular basis serves as a reminder that every viewpoint and experience is valuable.