Strategies of learning and academic performance used by high school students of Talca with high and low score of the System of Measurement of the Quality of Teaching

Abstract

During the education process, learning strategies have gained great importance because they help process, organize, retain and retrieve information according to the students’ thoughts, motivations, and emotions, also, they allow for the inclusion of new understanding and establish relationships with those already acquired; these strategies generate highly significant learning. The objective of the present study consist in evaluating the learning strategies and academic performance of 12th grade students in public schools from the Talca community that have high and low scores in the Measurement System of Teaching Quality-SIMCE (MINEDUC 2006). A quantitative cross-sectional design was performed and intentionally selected 12th grade students from four public high schools from the Talca community, according to the high schools’ SIMCE scores. The Study and Learning Strategies Inventory (IEEA) was applied to the sample. The results showed that there is a relationship between the learning strategies and academic performance of students from high schools with high SIMCE scores in Talca. Additionally, evidence showed that students from high schools with low SIMCE scores used learning strategies, but did not relate to good academic performance; also male students showed higher concentration and better anxiety management then female students. However, it is necessary to intensify learning strategies for students closer to their high school graduation and intensify strategies that are not used during the learning process as well as the relationship it has with the school success or failure