Beliefs & Self-estimates

Study on Seneca

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Learner Beliefs and Assumptions

Learners have a series of flawed beliefs about the learning process.

Learning is quick

One such belief is that learning is a quick and one-off process.
As explained by psychologists Nick Soderstrom and Robert Bjork (2015), learners often mistake performance for learning. That is, they mistakenly think that they have learned something because they can do it right now, in a particular lesson or practice activity.
In fact, learning is a slow process, which benefits from practice and review, particularly after a delay (the ‘spacing effect’).

Learning is passive

Students may also mistakenly believe that learning is all about passive repetition and re-reading. As we saw earlier, active retrieval is a more effective strategy.
For example, learners may decide to read a study booklet soon after a lesson, but it would be more effective if they did so after a delay, and if they summarised the content with the booklet closed rather than simply re-reading.

The role of teachers

In order to improve learners’ beliefs about learning, it is a good idea to discuss these points directly and to draw their attention to occasions where they have forgotten something that they could previously do.
This way, you are encouraging valuable metacognitive dialogue with students.

Learner Estimates of Their Own Ability

Estimating your own ability involves thinking about your own thinking and about your skills. This is likely to be biased by emotional factors such as confidence.

Mindset

Another flawed belief is the idea that ability and skill are largely a matter of innate talent.
Students may, for example, say that some people are naturally good at maths and others are not.
Seeing ability in this way is referred to as having a ‘fixed mindset’.
While there are differences in skill levels at any stage, it’s more helpful for learners to see their abilities as malleable and dependent on practice – a so-called ‘growth mindset’.

Mindset

It may help if teachers frequently emphasise the vital role of learning the component skills and techniques in any school subject.
Mindset can be seen as a form of metacognition. A fixed mindset can be challenged by the teacher through repeatedly emphasising the key role of practice, and by avoiding labeling pupils either as able or not able.