Pick a Strategy on Purpose

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Forethought & Planning in 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

Most pupils do not choose a method; they reach for the first one that comes to mind, or the one they always use. Flavell's point is that planning means selecting an approach, not defaulting to one, and selection only happens when there is a moment of deliberate choice.

Having pupils name which method they will use for this problem, and why, before the first line goes down makes that choice visible, to them and to you.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

A pair of simultaneous equations goes up, alongside a short menu of the methods the class has been taught: substitution, elimination, graphing. Each pupil writes the method they will use and one line of reasoning in the margin before starting. The teacher scans the reasons, not just the choices; "the coefficients already match" is a different answer from "it's the one I like".

Try it

A way to begin

On the next task with more than one viable route, ask for the method and the why in the margin before anyone starts. It costs thirty seconds.

What to notice

Reading what happens

• Pupils who pick the same method every time regardless of the problem. Habit is wearing planning's clothes.
• Whether the stated reasons mention features of the task. Reasons that do are conditional knowledge forming.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

• Pupils can only select from strategies they have actually been taught. If the menu is empty, teach the methods first and come back to this.
• The why matters more than the choice; a defensible reason for the "wrong" method is better planning than a lucky default.

Related strategies

Where this connects

• 📚 Know the Strategy Itself Flavell: students cannot deploy a strategy they have never been taught. Teach retrieval, spacing or self-explanation explicitly as named methods before expecting independent use. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Strategy Knowledge & Use
• 🧰 Know When to Use Each Winne: conditional knowledge, knowing which strategy suits which task, is what separates skilled learners. Teach not just the method but the cues that signal when it is the right one. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Strategy Knowledge & Use
• 🧹 Keep What Works, Drop the Rest Winne: learners refine an approach by checking whether it worked. Have students trial a study method, judge it against results, and keep only what the evidence supports. 06 Metacognition & Self-Regulation · Strategy Knowledge & Use
• 🧪 Study Strategy Audit Dunlosky's review rated ten strategies: re-reading scored low; practice testing scored highest. Ask students how they revise, then show them the data. That conversation is the intervention. 01 Retrieval Practice · Metacognition & Calibration

Inclusive practice

The lens this connects with

Through the inclusive practice lens, this is one of the approaches that may reduce barriers around:

• Independence and self regulation

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

Flavell's metacognitive knowledge includes knowing one's strategies; Winne adds the conditional layer, knowing which one this task calls for. The card’s attribution stands as published: Flavell.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Metacognition & Self-Regulation.