Learning and teaching

Approaches to learning
An integral part of an IB education
Summary

• Approaches to learning (ATL) are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is
fundamental to a student’s education.
• Five categories of interrelated skills and associated sub-skills support students of all ages to
become self-regulated learners.
• Through a variety of strategies, teachers collaboratively plan for implicit and explicit
opportunities to develop ATL both inside and outside the programme of inquiry.

Approaches to learning (ATL) are an integral part of an IB education and complement the learner
prole, knowledge, conceptual understanding and inquiry. Formerly known as “transdisciplinary skills”
in the Primary Years Programme (PYP), these skills will now be referred to as “approaches to learning”.

These skills are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is fundamental to a student’s
education. Five categories of interrelated skills aim to support students of all ages to become self-
regulated learners who know how to ask good questions, set effective goals and pursue their
aspirations with the determination to achieve them. These skills also help to support students’ sense
of agency, encouraging them to see their learning as an active and dynamic process (IBO 2017).

Although the ATL are relevant from 3 to 19 years of age, it is particularly important for PYP teachers
to interpret these skills in ways that are appropriate for early and primary years learners. All teachers
foster and support the development of these skills by providing opportunities embedded in authentic
learning experiences.

Subject-specic skills and approaches to learning

When learning about and through the subjects, students acquire skills that best help them to learn
those subjects. For example, in language, the students become literate, and in mathematics they

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become numerate. The acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills, in their broadest sense, is essential,
as these skills provide students with the tools to inquire.

Beyond the skills of literacy and numeracy, there is a range of interrelated approaches to learning that
are transferable across contexts. These skills support purposeful inquiry and set the foundations for
lifelong learning. The development of these skills is frequently identied in education literature as
crucial in supporting students to effectively learn and succeed inside and outside of school, (Trilling
and Fadel 2009; Wagner 2014). The ve interrelated approaches to learning are:

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The IB’s ATL aim to support student agency and the development of cognitive and metacognitive
skills and dispositions so that students view learning as something that they “do for themselves
in a proactive way, rather than as a covert event that happens to them in reaction to

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teaching” (Zimmerman 2000: 65). Together, these ATL help students think, research, communicate,
socialize and manage themselves effectively.

Embedded within the ATL are digital literacy skills that can be an invaluable resource for information
gathering or processing, as well as for critical and creative thinking, communication and collaboration.

By combining ATL and the attributes of the learner prole, PYP students become self-regulated
learners. Self-regulated learners are agents of their own learning. They know how to:

• set learning goals

• ask open-ended questions
• generate motivation and perseverance
• reect on achievement
• try out different learning processes
• self-assess as they learn
• adjust their learning processes where necessary

(Zimmerman and Schunk 2001; de Bruin et al. 2012; Wolters 2011).

The ATL and sub-skills

Although the ATL are presented as distinct categories with associated sub-skills, there are close links
and areas of overlap between them. For learning that is connected, it is important that students and
teachers recognize these skills as interrelated. For example, the skill to synthesize information or data,
and the ability to draw conclusions from the data, are related to thinking and research skills.

Figure ATL02 provides some examples of sub-skills—which schools may choose to focus on, modify
or add to—based on their contexts. Working collaboratively during the planning process, teachers are
encouraged to determine necessary skills, based on context and need, and document and monitor
them as learning goals.

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Categories Sub-skills

Thinking skills • Critical-thinking skills (analysing and

evaluating issues and ideas)
• Creative-thinking skills (generating novel
ideas and considering new perspectives)
• Transfer skills (using skills and knowledge in
multiple contexts)
• Reection/metacognitive skills
((re)considering the process of learning)

Research skills • Information-literacy skills (formulating and

planning, data gathering and recording,
synthesizing and interpreting, evaluating and
communicating)
• Media-literacy skills (interacting with media
to use and create ideas and information)
• Ethical use of media/information
(understanding and applying social and
ethical technology)

Communication skills • Exchanging-information skills (listening,

interpreting, speaking)
• Literacy skills (reading, writing and using
language to gather and communicate
information)
• ICT skills (using technology to gather,
investigate and communicate information)

Social skills • Developing positive interpersonal

relationships and collaboration skills (using

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self-control, managing setbacks, supporting

peers)
• Developing social-emotional intelligence

Self-management skills • Organization skills (managing time and tasks

effectively)
• States of mind (mindfulness, perseverance,
emotional management, self-motivation,
resilience)

Figure ATL02 The ve interrelated skills and sample sub-skills

Connecting approaches to learning and approaches to teaching
The learning community has an important role in supporting the understanding and development of
ATL. In a social-constructivist environment, students co-construct knowledge with peers and teachers,
and develop their skills more effectively with guidance and support from teachers and mentors
(Toshalis, Nakkula 2012).

Many of the ATL may be apparent in context of a certain natural ability or talent. The IB believes that
prociency in any of these skills can be supported through the deliberate use of techniques and
strategies, feedback and challenge (Toshalis, Nakkula 2012).

For example, current research on “creativity” challenges conceptions of creativity as limited

to individual psychological traits; it is also learnable and can be achieved in dynamic groups
(McWilliam 2009). Functional intelligence, creativity and other skills are malleable and can be
developed when students are given opportunities to practise them (Bransford et al. 2005; Mangels et
al. 2006).

The changeable nature of intelligence, ability and motivation highlights the need for teachers to
personalize learning based on individual needs and students’ development (Toshalis, Nakkula 2012).
Through collaboration with students and ongoing assessment, teachers effectively group and regroup

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students to support the development of the ATL. A classroom that honours student voice, choice and
ownership also encourages them to identify peers with whom to practise their skills.

Teachers create opportunities for skill development inside and outside the programme of inquiry, and
map them vertically and horizontally across the curriculum. Teachers understand that prociency in
using and applying a skill comes with practice. To achieve this, teachers model the skill and provide
scaffolds when introducing a skill for the rst time. They consider the multiple contexts across the
units of inquiry in which students can practice and transfer skills. In goal-setting, students and
teachers collaborate to identify skills for development or for further practice.

It is important to recognize that all members of the learning community continue to develop the
ATL and associated sub-skills throughout their lives. With exposure and experience, learners improve
and become better at learning to learn; therefore, skills can be at different levels of prociency. For
example, a research skill looks very different in the early and primary years, in high school, in university
and in the workplace. Knowing where students’ skill levels are relative to the context, the learning
goal or developmental stage can help teachers personalize the opportunity for skills practice and
application.

Reecting on students’ existing competencies, and through ongoing documenting and monitoring of
students’ emergent skills, teachers provide opportunities for students to be exposed to new skills, to
further develop existing skills and to apply and transfer skills in various contexts (Berliner 2004).

Developing ATL holistically

Through collaborative planning, teachers also consider the learner prole attributes and identify a
connection to the ATL. For example, thinking skills are necessary to become an effective thinker or an
inquirer.

Consider a unit of inquiry with the central idea “Government systems address the needs of a variety
of communities”. The teachers decide to challenge students to choose a community issue that is
relevant to them and nd out how the government made (or is making) decisions to solve the issue.
Students decide to consider a novel solution to the issue that could be administered within the
current government system. The inquiry requires the development of critical- and creative-thinking
processes. Through the inquiry, students demonstrate the learner prole attributes of “reective

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thinker” and “open-minded” in response to the central idea and the ATL that will be developed in the
unit of inquiry.

Supporting the development of the approaches to learning holistically also requires that teachers
seamlessly integrate them implicitly as part of the classroom culture and explicitly as part of inquiry.

Embedding the ATL implicitly in the classroom culture

Teachers may consider:

• using the language of the ATL

• modelling the ATL
• giving feedback about ATL
• highlighting the use of ATL in children’s literature and in the learning spaces
• setting up essential agreements and routines around the ATL.
Establishing the ATL explicitly through an inquiry

Together with students, teachers may consider:

• co-constructing ATL goals

• identifying specic ATL for development in a unit of inquiry
• reecting on specic ATL from the unit
• personalizing ATL for further support
• designing specic learning engagements to support the development of an ATL
• monitoring the development of ATL.
Fostering the development of ATL

All ATL can be facilitated explicitly or implicitly through a variety of strategies. In supporting
students’ skills development, teachers are mindful of the difference between opportunities that arise
authentically and those that are explicitly planned. While there are times when explicit skills teaching
is necessary, teachers aim to support the development of these skills in authentic, integrated and
meaningful contexts.

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When appropriate, teachers use exemplars to demonstrate what skills look like in different learning
contexts; use the language of skills in feedback; share their own experiences using and practising a
particular skill; and encourage transfer of skills across contexts and the curriculum.

TSM: Explicitly teaching thinking skills

These tables are for use with primary years students. For early years guidance on ATL, please refer to
the early years.

Figure ATL03 provides some examples of sub-skills—which schools may choose to focus on, modify or
add to—based on their contexts.

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Learning and teaching

Categories What teachers do:

Thinking skills • Model the language of thinking and reinforce

the processes of thinking.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Provide sufficient thinking time.
• Implement and model a range of “visible
thinking” techniques.
• Explicitly ask students to discuss and reect
on the value and limitations of the resources
used through their inquiries.
• Provide time for reection at all stages of
learning—before, during and after inquiries.
• Promote a range of tools for reection
and ensure that reection activities are
responsive and varied.
• Reect on existing competencies, co-create
learning goals.

Research skills • Plan transdisciplinary and subject-specic

inquiries in which students can develop,
apply and reect on their research skills.
• Provide a range of tools for students to
organize their research so that all stages are
documented.
• Model academic integrity by providing
proper citations and references for materials
and ideas that are shared with students.
• Collaborate with, for example, the librarian
and technology specialists support students

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to build research skills and to learn how to

identify reliable sources of information.

Communication skills • Plan opportunities for students to practise

and apply these skills in meaningful contexts.
• Provide time for students to plan and prepare
communication activities.
• Encourage students to consider potential
challenges and opportunities arising from
shared ideas.
• Encourage physical cues.
• Encourage communication using different
languages.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Put thinking ahead of knowing.
• Have informal conversations.
• Encourage students to explore a variety of
perspectives and modalities.

Social skills • Provide explicit opportunities for students to

practise and develop social skills.
• Provide opportunities for students to reect
on their social skills.
• Reect and feedback on different interactions
they observe.
• Offer students opportunities to see that
“other people, with their differences, can also
be right”.
•

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Use the language of the learner prole in

conversations and discussions, and in the
development of essential agreements.
• Model the social skills.

Self-management skills • Provide opportunities for students to monitor

and manage their learning to make progress.
• Involve students in planning.
• Build resilience by ensuring that learning
goals co-constructed with students are
challenging but achievable.
• Create an atmosphere where students
regard learning as a process of gradual
improvement.
• Continually reect on how they are
supporting student agency as an intrinsic
motivation to success.
• Support students to manage distractions.

Figure ATL03 How teachers support ATL

Students have a key role in the development of the approaches to learning, gures ATL04–08 provide
some examples of sub-skills—which students may choose to focus on, modify or add to—based on
their learning.

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Thinking skills

Sub-skills What students do:

Critical thinking Analysing

Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas, and • Observe carefully in order to recognize
forming decisions problems.
• Consider meaning of materials.
• Take knowledge or ideas apart by separating
them into component parts.
• Use models and simulations to explore
complex systems and issues.
Evaluating
• Organize relevant information to formulate
an argument.
• Evaluate evidence and arguments, and
associated decisions.
• Recognize unstated assumptions and biases.
• Consider ideas from multiple perspectives.
• Synthesize new understandings by nding
unique characteristics; seeing relationships
and connections.
• Test generalizations and conclusions.
• Identify obstacles and challenges.

Forming decisions
• Develop contrary or opposing arguments.
• Propose and evaluate a variety of solutions.
•

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Revise understandings based on new

information and evidence.
• Draw conclusions and generalizations.

Creative thinking Generating novel ideas

Generating novel ideas and considering new • Use discussions and diagrams to generate
perspectives new ideas and inquiries.
• Practise “visible thinking” strategies and
techniques.
• Make unexpected or unusual connections
between objects and/or ideas.
• Design improvements to existing products,
processes, media and technologies.
Considering new perspectives
• Ask “what if” questions and generate testable
hypotheses.
• Apply existing knowledge to design new
products processes, media and technologies.
• Consider multiple alternatives, including
those that might be unlikely or impossible.
• Practise exible thinking—develop multiple
opposing, contradictory and complementary
arguments.
• Practise “visible thinking” strategies and
techniques.
• Generate metaphors and analogies.

Information transfer • Use memory techniques to develop long-

Using skills and knowledge in multiple contexts term memory.

•

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Inquire in different contexts to gain different

perspectives.
• Make connections between units of inquiry
and between subjects.
• Transfer conceptual understandings across
transdisciplinary themes and subjects.
• Combine knowledge, conceptual
understandings and skills to create products
or solutions.
• Apply skills and knowledge in unfamiliar
situations or outside of school.
• Help others develop conceptual
understandings and skills.

Reection and metacognition • Identify strengths and areas for

Using thinking skills to reect on the process of improvement.

learning • Consider new skills, techniques and strategies
for effective learning.
• Record thinking and reection processes.
• Reect on their learning by asking questions
such as:
• What did I learn today?
• What don’t I yet understand?
• What questions do I have now?
• What can I already do?
• What will I work on next?
• What can I do to become a more effective
learner?
•

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What factors are important for helping me

learn well?
• Have I been a principled and balanced
thinker? (for example, considering ethical,
cultural and environmental implications).

Figure ATL04 Thinking skills – what students do

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Research skills

Sub-skills What students do:

Information literacy Formulating and planning

Formulating and planning, data gathering • Ask or design relevant questions of interest
and recording, synthesizing and interpreting, that can be researched.
evaluating and communicating • Outline a plan for nding necessary
information.
• Evaluate and select appropriate information
sources and/or digital tools based on the
task.
Data gathering and recording
• Gather information from a variety of primary
and secondary sources.
• Use all senses to nd and notice relevant
details.
• Record observations by drawing, note
taking, charting, tallying, writing statements,
annotating images.
Synthesizing and interpreting
• Sort and categorize information: arrange
information into understandable forms such
as narratives, explanatory and procedural
writing, tables, timelines, graphs and
diagrams.
• Use critical literacy skills to analyse and
interpret information.
Evaluating and communicating
•

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Draw conclusions from relationships and

patterns that emerge from data.
• Present information in a variety of formats
and platforms.
• Understand the signicance of academic
integrity and intellectual property rights.
• Create references and citations, use
footnotes/endnotes and construct a
bibliography according to recognized
conventions.

Media literacy • Locate, organize, analyse, evaluate and

Interacting with media to use and create ideas synthesize information from a variety of
and information trusted sources, social media and online
networks.
• Compare, contrast and draw connections
among (multi)media resources.
• Seek a range of perspectives from multiple
and varied media sources.
• Demonstrate awareness of media
interpretations of events and ideas.
• Communicate information and ideas
effectively to multiple audiences using a
variety of media and modalities.

Ethical use of media/ information • Use media ethically to communicate, share

Understanding and applying social and ethical and connect with others.
technology • Differentiate reliable from unreliable
resources.
• Understand the impact of media
representations and modes of presentation.

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Figure ATL05 Research skills – what students do

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Communication skills

Sub-skills What students do:

Exchanging information Listening

Listening, interpreting and speaking • Listen to, and follow the information and
directions of others.
• Listen actively to other perspectives and
ideas.
• Ask for clarications.
• Listen actively and respectfully while others
speak.
Interpreting
• Interpret visual, audio and oral
communication: recognizing and creating
signs, interpreting and using symbols and
sounds.
• Understand the ways in which images and
language interact to convey ideas.
• Recognize the meaning of kinaesthetic
communication (body language).
• Be aware of cultural differences when
providing and interpreting communication.
Speaking
• Speak and express ideas clearly and logically
in small and large groups.
• Give and receive meaningful feedback and
feedforward.
•

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State opinions clearly, logically and

respectfully.
• Discuss and negotiate ideas and knowledge
with peers and teachers.
• Communicate with peers, experts and
members of the learning community using a
variety of digital environments and media.

Literacy Reading
Reading, writing and using language to gather • Read a variety of sources for information and
and communicate information for pleasure.
• Read critically and for comprehension.
• Make inferences and draw conclusions.
• Use and interpret a range of terms and
symbols.
Writing
• Use appropriate forms of writing for different
purposes and audiences.
• Paraphrase accurately and concisely.
• Record information and observations by
hand and through digital technologies.
• Use a variety of scaffolding for writing tasks.
• Organize information logically.
• Make summary notes.
• Communicate using a range of technologies
and media.
• Understand and use mathematical notation
and other symbols.
•

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Responsibly participate in, and contribute to,

digital social media networks.

ICT • Understand the impact of media

Communicating using technology to gather, representations and modes of presentation.

investigate and share information • Make informed choices about modes of
communication based on audience.
• Communicate information and ideas
effectively to multiple audiences using a
variety of media and modalities.

Figure ATL06 Communication skills – what students do

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Learning and teaching

Social skills

Sub-skills What students do:

Interpersonal relationships, social and Interpersonal relationships

emotional intelligence • Practise empathy and care for others.
Developing positive interpersonal relationships • Listen closely to others’ perspectives and to
and collaboration instructions.
• Be respectful to others.
• Learn cooperatively in a group: being
courteous, sharing, taking turns.
• Help others to succeed.
• Build consensus and negotiate effectively.
• Make fair and equitable decisions.
• Encourage others to contribute.
• Take on a variety of roles in group learning.
• Advocate for one’s own rights and needs, and
those of others.
Social and emotional intelligence
• Be aware of own and others’ emotions.
• Manage anger and resolve conict.
• Be self and socially aware.
• Be aware of own and others’ impact as a
member of a learning group.

Figure ATL07 Social skills –what students do

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Learning and teaching

Self-management skills

Sub-skills What students do:

Organization • Plan short- and long-term tasks.

Managing time and tasks effectively • Set goals that are challenging and realistic.
• Use time effectively and appropriately.
• Bring necessary equipment and supplies to
class.
• Keep an organized and logical system to
document learning.
• Understand and use learning preferences.
• Use technology effectively and productively.
• Take on and complete tasks as agreed.
• Delegate and share responsibility for
decision-making.

States of mind Mindfulness

Using strategies that manage state of mind • Use strategies to support concentration and
overcome distractions.
• Be aware of body–mind connections.

Perseverance
• Demonstrate persistence.
• Use strategies to remove barriers.

Emotional management
• Take responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Use strategies to prevent and eliminate
bullying.

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Learning and teaching

• Use strategies to reduce stress and anxiety.

• Manage anger and resolve conict.

Self-motivation
• Practice positive thinking and language that
reinforces self-motivation.
Resilience
• Manage setbacks.
• Work through adversity.
• Work through disappointment.
• Work through change.

Figure ATL08 Self-management skills –what students do

Further reading
Claxton, G and Carr, M. 2004. “A framework for teaching learning: The dynamics of disposition”. Early
Years. Vol 24, number 1. Pp 87–97.

Costa, A and Kallick, B. 2014. Dispositions: Reframing teaching and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA.
Corwin.

Glaser, R and Bassok, M. 1989. “Learning theory and the study of instruction”. Annual Review of
Psychology. Vol 40, number 1. Pp 631–666.

Murdoch, K. 2006. “Inquiry learning: Journeys through the thinking processes”. Teacher Learning
Network. Vol 13, number 2. Pp 32–34.

National Education Association. 2014. “An educator’s guide to the ‘Four Cs’: Preparing 21st century
students for a global society”. http://www.nea.org/assets/docs/A-Guide-to-Four-Cs.pdf. Accessed on
28 September 2016.

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Learning and teaching

Perkins, D, Jay, E and Tishman, A. 1993. “Teaching thinking dispositions: From transmission to
enculturation”. Theory into Practice. Vol 32, issue 3. Pp 147–153.

Ritchhart, R. 2002. Intellectual character: What is it, why it matters, and how to get it. San Francisco, CA,
USA. Jossey-Bass.

Swartz, R and McGuinness, C. 2014. Developing and assessing thinking skills. The Hague,
the Netherlands. International Baccalaureate Organization.

Weiss, K. 2013. Teachers’ perspectives on assessment of the learner prole attributes in the Primary Years
Programme. Ankara, Turkey. Unpublished manuscript.

Bibliography
Cited
Bransford, J, Derry, S, Berliner, DC, Hammerness, K and Beckett, KL. 2005. “Theories of learning and
their roles in teaching”. In Darling-Hammond, L and Bransford, J (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing
world. Pp 40–87. San Francisco, CA, USA. Wiley & Sons.

de Bruin, WB, Parker, AM and Fischhoff, B. 2012. “Explaining adult age differences in decision-making
competence”. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. Vol 25, issue 4. Pp 353–360.

IBO. 2017. What is an IB education? Geneva, Switzerland. International Baccalaureate Organization.

Mangels, JA, Buttereld, B, Lamb, J, Good, C and Dweck, CS. 2006. “Why do beliefs about intelligence
inuence learning success? A social cognitive neuroscience model”. Social Cognitive and Affective
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McWilliam, E. 2009. “Teaching for creativity: From sage to guide to meddler”. Asia Pacic Journal of
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Toshalis, E and Nakkula, MJ. 2012. “Motivation, engagement, and student voice”. The Student at the
Center series. >www.studentsatthecenter.org. Accessed on 28 September 2016.

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Trilling, B and Fadel, C. 2009. 21st century skills: Learning for life in our times. San Francisco, CA, USA.
John Wiley & Sons.

Wagner, T. 2014. The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don’t teach the new survival skills
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Wolters, CA. 2011. “Regulation of motivation: Contextual and social aspects”. Teachers College Record.
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Zimmerman, B.J. (2000). Attainment of self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In M. Boekaerts,

P.R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.). Handbook of self-regulation (Pp. 13-39). San Diego, CA. Academic Press.

Zimmerman, BJ and Schunk, DH (Eds.). 2001. Self-regulated learning and academic achievement:
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Zimmerman, B. 2000. “Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview”. Theory Into Practice.  Vol 41,
number 2, Pp 64—70.

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