Students have more control over their learning when they develop metacognitive skills. Metacognition is thinking about thinking. Students can examine their thoughts to know whether they understand something they read and can find ways to overcome the confusion. Students can also develop the ability to assess their own ideas, so they can make necessary adjustments to their world view.
Empowered learners are able to grow more effectively by bringing in new knowledge and using it to build upon old knowledge. As students learn how to assess what they know and continually expand it, they can avoid wasting time relearning material they have already mastered, but can also more quickly master new material by acquiring the skills that are prerequisites for acquiring new skills. For example, students cannot master algebra until they have mastered simple arithmetic. Instructors use scaffolding to empower students to gradually improve their abilities. With scaffolding, teachers first assess where the student has progressed and then focuses on helping the student further develop the skills at that level, before pushing the student further.
When empowering students to learn, the educator must first engage students in their own areas of knowledge, as argued by John J. Doherty of North Arizona University. Students might struggle to understand the significance of a historical event, until the educator connects the event to something that the students are familiar with. Students learn more efficiently when they can connect what they learn to information they already know.
Students are more motivated to pursue topics they have interest in, so educators can structure the classroom so the students can choose the topics they study. For example, a teacher in a literature class can let each student choose a work of fiction to read. Also, the class can be structured to allow students freedom in how they demonstrate a mastery of the classroom material. Some instructors allow students to control whether they write an essay, create a video or perform some other project that demonstrates a mastery of the material.
Educators can give students assistance when exploring a topic. Many students do not know how to begin researching a topic, so the teacher can direct students to academic databases, library databases and other tools that can help them locate sources efficiently.