Self-explanation Socratic and dialogic tutoring Metacognition: knowing what you know
Prompting learners to explain to themselves helps: a meta-analysis of 64 reports
In short: Across 69 effect sizes from 64 research reports, learners who were prompted to explain the material to themselves while studying or solving problems learned more than those who weren't. The average benefit was medium-sized and showed up across many subjects and settings.
| Paper | Inducing Self-Explanation: a Meta-Analysis |
| Authors | Kiran Bisra, Qing Liu, John C. Nesbit, Farimah Salimi, Philip H. Winne |
| Published | 29 March 2018 · Educational Psychology Review 30(3), 703–725 |
| Study type | Meta-analysis · Peer-reviewed |
| What we read | Abstract and parts of the full text read. We read the abstract (ERIC record EJ1186664) and the overall results table. |
| Summarized |
What they did
The authors searched for studies in which some learners got prompts to self-explain, generating reasons for why steps work or how ideas connect, and compared their learning with learners who didn't. They coded 20 possible moderators, including task type, subject, education level and how the prompts were given.
Who took part
5,917 participants across the included studies, from school students to adults.
What they found
- Self-explanation prompts produced a medium overall benefit.
- The benefit was largest compared with getting no extra explanation (g = 0.67), and smaller but still positive compared with being given an instructor's explanation (g = 0.35).
- Benefits appeared across most of the conditions examined.
- The authors suggest that computers could generate self-explanation prompts in future.
Effect size: Overall g = 0.55 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.65), 69 effect sizes.
Limitations
- Studies varied a lot (significant heterogeneity).
- Most prompts were scripted by instructors, so the results tell us about well-written prompts.
- We read the abstract and summary results, not the full paper.
What this means for learners and parents
- After a worked example or a solved problem, ask "why does this step work?" and answer it out loud or on paper.
- Being asked to explain is often more useful than being told the explanation.
- Parents don't need to know the answer to help: "how did you get that?" is a self-explanation prompt.
Put it into practice (free tools)
Try it: Ask Poppy is an AI tutor for iPhone, iPad and Mac that asks questions and gives one hint at a time instead of handing over the answer. Free with 30 messages a day, then $3.99/week or $9.99/month. (We make it.)
Citation
Kiran Bisra, Qing Liu, John C. Nesbit, Farimah Salimi, Philip H. Winne (2018). Inducing Self-Explanation: a Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review 30(3), 703–725. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-018-9434-x
Related summaries
- Unrestricted ChatGPT help raised practice scores but lowered exam scores · Hamsa Bastani et al., 2025 · Preregistered randomized controlled trial
- Supervised AI tutoring matched human tutors in UK maths classrooms · LearnLM Team (Google) et al., 2025 · Exploratory randomized controlled trial
- An AI coach for human tutors raised topic mastery, most for weaker tutors · Rose Wang et al., 2024 · Preregistered randomized controlled trial
- "Your Brain on ChatGPT": what the MIT essay-writing study did and didn't show · Nataliya Kosmyna et al., 2025 · Lab experiment with EEG