An effective metacognitive strategy: learning by doing and explaining with a computer-based Cognitive Tutor

Recent studies have shown that self-explanation is an effective metacognitive strategy, but how can it be leveraged to improve students’ learning in actual classrooms? How do instructional treatments that emphasizes self-explanation affect students’ learning, as compared to other instructional treatments? We investigated whether self-explanation can be scaffolded effectively in a classroom environment using a Cognitive Tutor, which is intelligent instructional software that supports guided learning by doing. In two classroom experiments, we found that students who explained their steps during problem-solving practice with a Cognitive Tutor learned with greater understanding compared to students who did not…