Six Strategies for Three Parts of One Life: Spaced Retrieval and Interleaving for School, Specific Goals and a Growth Mindset at Work, If-Then Plans and Autonomy at Home
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PSY/110: Psychology of Learning
Week 2 Strategies for Success Worksheet
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The student is a composite written for a model worksheet.
My Week 1 check-in pointed to two problems: I have little time, and I dodge hard tasks. I work full time scheduling deliveries, I am raising a seven-year-old and I am in my first business course. This worksheet picks two strategies from psychology for each part of my life. I chose strategies that fix a specific habit I already have, because a strategy I admire but have no reason to use will not survive a busy week.
Academic Life
Strategy 1: Spaced retrieval practice
What it is: testing myself on material from memory, and doing it in short sessions spread over several days instead of one long session. In a major review of learning techniques, Dunlosky et al. (2013) rated both practice testing and distributed practice as high-utility, because they help across many kinds of material, students and tests.
Why I chose it: I reread and highlight, the two techniques that the same review rated low. My study time is only about ninety minutes a night, so it has to count.
How I will use it: after each reading, I will write five questions on index cards and answer them without looking the next night, then again three days later. Sunday nights I will shuffle the week's cards and quiz myself before the weekly quiz.
Strategy 2: Interleaving
What it is: mixing different kinds of problems or topics in one session instead of doing all of one kind before moving on. Dunlosky et al. (2013) rated it of moderate utility and promising, especially for problem-solving material, because it forces the learner to decide which method a problem needs.
Why I chose it: next term I take accounting, where I will need to recognize which kind of problem I am facing. Practicing that recognition now is easier than learning it under pressure.
How I will use it: when I review, I will mix cards from different chapters rather than going through one chapter at a time.
Professional Life
Strategy 3: Specific, difficult goals
What it is: setting a goal that is clear and hard rather than vague, such as a number and a date. In their review of 35 years of studies, Locke and Latham (2002) reported that people given hard, clearly defined goals outperformed those given easy goals or instructions to "do your best," as long as the person was committed to the goal and received feedback.
Why I chose it: my goal at work has always been to "do a good job," and I have been passed over for promotion twice. A vague goal gives me nothing to measure.
How I will use it: my goal is to cut late deliveries on my routes from 6% to 3% by the end of the quarter. I will track it weekly on a spreadsheet and review it with my supervisor every two weeks, which gives me the feedback the research says a goal needs.
Strategy 4: A growth mindset about feedback
What it is: the belief that abilities can be developed through effort, strategies and help, rather than being fixed. Yeager and Dweck (2012) found that students who hold this belief tend to respond to setbacks with more effort and new strategies, and that brief interventions teaching it can improve how students cope with challenges.
Why I chose it: I take criticism at work personally and tend to go quiet after it. If I want to become a manager, I have to treat feedback as information.
How I will use it: after each review with my supervisor, I will write down one thing to try differently and report back on it at the next review, instead of defending what I did.
Personal Life
Strategy 5: If-then plans
What it is: a plan that links a specific situation to a specific action, in the form "if situation X arises, then I will do Y." A meta-analysis by Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) found that forming these plans had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals, largely because the situation itself triggers the action without a new decision.
Why I chose it: my evenings disappear to my phone. I do not decide to scroll; it happens when I sit down after my son's bedtime.
How I will use it: "If I finish reading with my son at 8:30, then I put my phone on the charger in the kitchen and open my laptop at the table." And "If I feel like avoiding the writing assignment, then I write for ten minutes before doing anything else."
Strategy 6: Protecting autonomy
What it is: self-determination theory holds that people stay motivated when their need for autonomy, the sense that their actions are their own choice, is met (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Why I chose it: I have started to feel that school is one more obligation stacked on work and parenting, and I notice that I resent it on busy nights.
How I will use it: each Sunday, I will choose which nights I study rather than following a fixed rule, and I will write one sentence on why this week's work matters to me. The schedule is still a schedule, but it is mine.
Summary
The six strategies divide into two kinds. Four change what I do: spaced retrieval, interleaving, specific goals and if-then plans. Two change how I think about what I do: a growth mindset about feedback and a sense that my schedule is my own choice. Together they address the problems my Week 1 check-in found, too little time used well, avoidance of hard tasks and discouragement after criticism, with methods that research supports.
References
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805
How this PSY 110 Week 2 example is structured
Student-shared copies of the PSY/110 Week 2 assignment show a Psychological Concepts/Strategies for Success Worksheet that asks students to choose two concepts or strategies for each aspect of their life and explain why they chose each and how it can help. The sample gives each strategy the same three parts, what it is, why this student chose it and how it will be used, because the explanation and the plan are what the worksheet rewards. Students search this week as PSY 110 Week 2, PSY110 Wk 2 or PSY/110 Wk 2; all three are the same assignment.
PSY/110 Week 2 questions, answered
What does PSY/110 Week 2 usually ask for?
Student-shared copies show a Psychological Concepts/Strategies for Success Worksheet: choose two psychological concepts or strategies for each aspect of your life, such as academic, professional and personal, and explain why you chose each and how it can help you succeed. Your worksheet sets the exact aspects and length.
How do I choose strategies that will score well?
Pick strategies with research behind them that fit a real problem you have. Explaining why a strategy suits your situation, and exactly when and how you will use it, shows more understanding than naming a popular idea.
Can I use the same strategy for two aspects of life?
Usually the worksheet asks for different strategies in each area, so choose six distinct ones. You can mention that a strategy helps in more than one area, but give each area its own pair.
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