LC Module: Elaborators

“Elaboration strategies expands the target information by relating other information to it (ex. Creating a phrase, making an analogy). It connects information to be learned with information that students already know. This connecting takes stress off of working memory, because connections create efficiency of learning and memory.” (Jordan, 2014)

“Elaborative interrogation is a strategy to help you remember meaningful information. The idea behind the strategy is that relevant prior knowledge is not always readily activated when you are trying to learn new information, and sometimes help is needed to make the right connections. The strategy requires you to go beyond the information given to you and to construct reasons for the relationships between bits of information.” (McPherson, 2012)

“Complex concepts require that a learner make connections and form associations and other relationships in order to establish sense and meaning. Thus, information may need to be reprocessed several times as new links are found. This is called elaborative rehearsal. The more senses that are used in this elaborative rehearsal, the more reliable the associations.” (Sousa, 2011)

30 MIN

GC309 – Elaborators – Question Stem Elaboration Game (Journal Entry)

GC309-S4 – Question Stem Elaboration Game – Alexa or Instructor will direct students, after lesson, to divide into teams. Each team member will take on the task of creating inquisitive questions from the stems and keywords provided. Each completed question should be inserted into a container for team competition. Each team should choose an opposing team for competition. Flip a coin to be Team A or B. Team A will go first. The Team B representative or Game Host will draw a question from the Team A container. He/she will read aloud and then have a 60 second response time. The game is completed when all questions have been played.

30 MIN

GC308 – Elaborators – Elaboration Quest Skills (Journal Entry)

GC308-S2 – Elaboration Quest Skills – Individually, with a partner or small group, Alexa or Instructor will guide students on writing a how-to skill short story or a challenging, problem-based scenario, using 5 W index cards or sheets. The 5Ws are labeled who, what, when, where, why and how. Then, as directed, students will trade the skill short story or problem-based scenario with another individual or small group. They will respond by demonstrating a new skill set or providing a solution to a challenging scenario.

20 MIN

GC307 – Elaborators – Practical Experience Elaboration Squares

GC307-S3 – Practical Experience Elaboration Squares – Alexa or Instructor will guide students, as directed, individually, with a partner or small group, to define a lesson topic on the index card provided, referred to as an Elaboration Square. Students will be directed to provide a list of the major details for the topic, on the front of their index card or square. Next, students will be requested to think about how this information could be useful in a real-world application, situation or event. Then, a daily practical example or experience, using this information, will be inserted on the backside of the card. Last, Alexa or Instructor will ask students to present their topic to a partner, small group or class, and take notes as others present their topic information.

10 MIN

GC306 – Elaborators – Everyday Elaboration Tool (Journal Entry)

GC306-S3 – Everyday Elaboration – Elaboration allows for more connection to the topic by increasing retention and long-term retrieval. Following the lesson, as directed, individually, with a partner, in a small group and/or as a class, Alexa or Instructor will request students select a lesson-related picture, diagram, object or concept, to use in elaboration. Then, students will elaborate by completing an everyday activity, such as writing a brief short story or planning a local ad. Everyday examples allow students to learn and remember intricate details and increase memory efficiency.

Achievement Points - The gears located on each module provide some research specifics why the strategy used in each module raises student achievement. You can click on the gear to read and click on the gear again to eliminate the research box retrieved. For more citation reference information, please refer to the Learning Connect Research Resource Guide in the left hand column of this website.