The literature on cognitive processing and strategic processing is murky with regard to how these types of processing influence learning. One reason for this is that the frameworks used to investigate these relations have separately focused on different aspects related to cognitive processing with little integration between them. To address these issues, we discuss why this may have happened, and the obstacles to integrating multiple models, and give three exemplars of how integrated models can help untangle the relations between cognitive processing and learning. Specifically, we highlight the Model of Domain Learning, Self-regulated Learning, and Approaches to Learning. Our goal in developing these integrations is to provide researchers with a more complex, dynamic way to evaluate the role of cognition in learning.