This study looked at the impact of two types of training intended to improve the recall performance of third graders. The 'Specific' training group was taught a cumulative rehearsal strategy to improve performance on serial recall tasks and a semantic categorization strategy to improve performance on free recall tasks. The 'Planning' training group, in addition to learning the specific strategies mentioned above, was also taught to analyze the components of the tasks and to adjust memory strategies to improve recall Seventy-two boys and girls, half average and half below-average achievers, were randomly assigned to each of the three experimental conditions (6 subjects per cell). Each child was seen once to establish his or her initial level of performance (pretest). In the second session the children were exposed to training appropriate to their experimental condition. In a third session the children were tested for maintenance of the trained strategies and generalization of those skills to different tasks On the serial recall maintenance task, the planning and the specific training group used rehearsal significantly more than the control group and the performance of both groups improved proportionally. On the free recall maintenance tasks, both trained groups of average achievers maintained the use of the categorization behaviors but only the average planning group maintained the use of the self-testing behavior to evaluate recall readiness. The use of appropriate study behaviors did not improve performance on the free recall task. On the serial recall generalization task, planning and specific training groups used self-testing behavior significantly more than did the control group. The use of self-testing behavior did not lead, however, to a significant increase in performance. On the other hand, the free recall generalization task showed significantly higher performance for the planning group than for the control group. In addition, the average achievers in the planning group used categorization significantly more than the control group. This study supported the idea that training of sophisticated strategies, especially for average achievers, improves the ability of third graders to recall information presented in forms similar to or different from those encountered during training. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)
