School as a Context for Development: Examining First-Graders' Strategy Use across Domains

Data from four cohorts of first-grade teachers and students were used to (1) describe students’ strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks across the first-grade, (2) consider differences in teachers’ use of Cognitive Processing Language (CPL), or instruction that encourages deep levels of processing and metacognition over time and across subject matter, and (3) examine the effects of teachers’ CPL on students’ strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks. Minimal change was observed in students’ recall, accuracy, and strategy use on memory and mathematics tasks over the course of the year, which contributed to the failure to establish linkages between teachers’ use of CPL and students’ performance. The results highlight the need for additional research that carefully considers whether the tasks being used are developmentally appropriate and sensitive enough to capture change over the course of an academic year. In addition, efforts to further understand the association between strategy use and performance across domains should also include measures of metacognition and self-regulated learning.Doctor of Philosoph