cream strategy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HllMfuAPhl8

Background

Cottrell (1999) believed that there are some basic approaches

that can accelerate the learning process. She believed

that CREAM strategies developed out of practical work

undertaken with hundreds of students over ten years shows

a reflective, active, and self-evaluating approach to learning

which develops a deeper understanding in the long term.

CREAM strategies for vocabulary learning

Cottrell (1999) defined the CREAM strategies for learning as

follows:

C - Creative: creative learners have the confidence to use

their individual strategies and styles, applying imagination to

their learning.

R - Reflective: reflective learners are able to learn from their

experience, analyze and evaluate their own performance, and

draw lessons from it.

E - Effective: effective learners organize their space, time,

priorities, state of mind and resources (including information

technology) to the maximum benefit.

A - Active: active learners are personally involved in doing

things, physically and mentally, to help them make sense of

what they learn.

M - Motivated: motivated learners are aware of their own

desired outcomes; maintain their commitment in order to

reach the short and long term goals they have identified for

themselves.

Creative learning

Creativity is especially important for generating ideas in

the early stages of new assignments. Students can use more

logical approaches in order to evaluate which creative ideas

to use. Approaches that foster creativity are: playtime, lateral

thinking, thinking of as many ways as possible that they

could be considered connected, there’s more than one right

answer ( once one has come up with an answer, look for

another one), and combining things (the essence of invention

is mixing two different ideas or contexts to create a new

variety). A part of creative learning is that learners have the

ability to consider their learning styles and things to broaden

their study strengths.

Reflective learning

According to Cottrell (1999), students should be responsible

for their own progress and development as autonomous

learners. Although they will receive formal assessment

and views of other people, they benefit from being able to

conclude for themselves, through a process of analysis and

reflection, what they do well, what they need to improve, and

their priorities. Students’ performance is likely to improve if

they develop a habit of putting time aside to reflect on how

they learn. They will find that they study more effectively

if they consider such things as: their motivation, changes in

their attitudes and ideas, the appropriateness of their current

study strategies to the tasks they are undertaking, which

skills they need for different kinds of assignment, and what

impedes their learning.

 

 

According to Cottrell (1999), there are five methods of

developing reflection:

1.

Keeping a learning journal

2. Using self - evaluation questionnaires

3.

Keeping an updated profile

4. Making constructive use of feedback from tutors

5. Filling in progress sheets regularly