Learning Strategy

Learning strategy refers to the instructional strategy used in a course, the framework or methodology employed to lay out the material and impart learning to the student. Most learning strategies, no matter how complex, are ultimately based on a fundamental three-step process:

1. Teach

2. Practice

3. Test

When amplified, this process translates into:

1. Presentation of material; colloquially, "show and tell"

2. Experiential exercises or applied scenarios

3. Feedback through assessments

Methodological Foundations

This fundamental strategy or process, based on Herbart's nineteenth-century five-step learning theory, was first deployed on a widespread basis by trainers in 1914, during the early days of World War I. Although the model has since been modified, the basic principles remain the same. It should be noted that, because of the ambiguity of the word "learning," a learning strategy sometimes refers to the student's method of learning (previewing the material, reading it, and reviewing it) rather than the teacher's teaching strategy.

See also Herbart Instructional Systems Design