Elaborative Interrogation

Elaborative interrogation is a learning strategy in which a student generates an explanation for why a stated fact is true, typically by asking and answering a why question about the material, rather than simply reading or memorizing the fact as given, a technique studied extensively by educational psychologist Michael Pressley and colleagues from the 1980s through the 1990s. Research found that prompting learners to explain why a fact makes sense, for instance why a particular animal might have a certain characteristic, improved their memory for the fact more than simple restudying, because the explanation forces the learner to connect the new information to what they already know rather than storing it as an isolated, disconnected item. The technique works best when learners already possess enough relevant background knowledge to generate a plausible explanation on their own, and it has been included among a small set of learning techniques rated as offering high practical utility for students in evidence reviews of study strategies.