Review-based learning by teaching promoted deeper learning competencies of the challenged students

Traditional didactic lectures persist as the predominant teaching method in mainland China’s middle schools. Albeit criticized for inadequately fostering profound reflection and collaboration among students. This study introduces an adapted approach to learning by teaching (LdL), explicitly employing a review-based learning process, to nurture students’ capacity for deep learning. Our findings underscore the positive impact of review-based LdL on enhancing crucial competencies such as learning ability, social and emotional skills, and critical thinking and expressive capacity. Analyzing student feedback through cluster analysis revealed that academically and socially challenged students, among the four experimental groups considered, experienced the most significant benefits. The results of the PLS-SEM analysis manifested that the total effect of social and emotional skills on deeper learning competency was 0.881 among the cohort. The three-month pilot study also indicated diminishing learning aptitude among happy learners and social weariness among socially inclined individuals within the traditional teaching paradigm.