Strategy matters: A five-year longitudinal study of Children's strategy utilization in category learning

Background

Strategies play crucial roles in structuring knowledge, facilitating differentiation and generalization, and enhancing cognitive efficiency. While research indicates that adults can effectively use various classification strategies to improve learning outcomes, there is limited understanding of how children employ these strategies and the extent to which their developing abilities enable them to apply such strategies.

Aims

The purpose of this paper is to map age patterns of strategy utilization during category learning among elementary school children and to explore the interplay between strategies and general cognitive abilities (g) in affecting learning performance.

Methods

The 5-4 task served as the experimental tool to explore how children utilize rule-based or exemplar-based strategies. We assessed g by administering measures of working memory, processing speed, and fluid intelligence.

Samples

Data collection occurred annually over a five-year period from a sample of 157 elementary school children. Data on 155 university adults were also collected.

Results

Children tended to use rule-based strategies more than exemplar-based strategies, and their strategy choices were not influenced by g. Furthermore, both rule- and exemplar-based strategies demonstrated significantly positive effects on learning performance, even after controlling for g. While younger children performed better with rule-based strategies, older children showed superior performance with exemplar-based strategies. Exemplar strategies even moderated the effect of g on learning performance.

Implications

These findings enhance our understanding of how children's strategy use and its interaction with g influence learning behavior. They also suggest practical ways to enhance learning outcomes by cultivating strategies in instructional practices.