Self-Explanation: Explain What You’re Thinking!

This is one of the go-to techniques many of the moderators use during our tutorials. And for me, this has made a significant impact on my learning.

Self-explanation is exactly what it sounds like, explaining problems and the process of solving these problems two yourself. Like asking why, you produce a reason as to how and why you’ve come to a particular conclusion to a certain problem.

Although research in this topic is limited, from what is out there is promising. A study on self-explanation, Berry (1983) compared a group of no self-explanation with two groups using self-explanation and how it affected their problem-solving accuracy in concrete practice problems and abstract transfer problems. The groups prompted to use self-explanation experienced a higher problem-solving accuracy especially in the abstract transfer problems.

The researchers carrying out this study attributed this to self-explanation enhancing the students’ ability to integrate new information with prior knowledge, whilst also allowing you to find false ideas in your own through process.

They found the impact of self-explanation on learning, greater in the group that incorporated this technique after solving each step of a problem than the problem.

What’s more is that when self-explanation was prompted content-free, more like open-ended question there was greater learning gains than when it was content-specific, more about direct questions.

So how can we implement this in our learning?

As I mentioned earlier, during some tutorials we’ve had, the professor leading these tutorials would ask us to elaborate on our thought process when we are solving a case. For example, if we had a case about a patient with cardiovascular disease and we were to prescribe a certain type of medication, the moderator would ask us, “then what would happen?”. In this way we are then prompted to think about the drugs mechanism of action, adverse effects possible alternatives and patient prognosis.

Out with class, when you are revising try to periodically ask yourself about how you concluded on a certain problem, this can help you point out what you know. And when you do this with an incorrect question, it’ll show what you don’t know.

Learning like many other things in life is about the process. When you dial in on the process, the results are greater.

Thank you very much for reading this far, I hope this has been helpful to you and your studies.

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