Phases of learning: Ninth graders' skill acquisition

The present study explored in detail students' cognitive behaviours observed in the process of learning, as performed in the classroom context while acquiring a thinking skill ('choosing wisely'). The participants comprised 10 ninth graders. They were engaged in a year long, independent, open-ended inquiry project in science, performed in a group setting and guided by a curriculum for the instruction of cognitive skills, designed in accordance with the literature recommendations. Micro-analysis of the students' video-recorded repeated applications of the skill, identified 10 steps along the learning process, disclosing the students' development of schemata along three parallel lines: utterance clarification, elaboration and generalisation of core concepts, and schema integration, automation, and manipulation. These lines of development correspond to the phases/levels of learning suggested in the literature.