Teachers’ direct and indirect promotion of self-regulated learning in primary and secondary school mathematics classes – insights from video-based classroom observations and teacher interviews

Self-regulated learning has a positive effect on academic outcomes; however, little is known about whether and how teachers at various education levels promote it in their classes. Video-based classroom observations were conducted to assess primary and secondary school mathematics teachers’ direct and indirect promotion of self-regulated learning (SRL). Teachers’ implicit and explicit instruction of SRL strategies (direct promotion of SRL) and the learning environment they created (indirect promotion of SRL) were rated according to how conducive they were to self-regulation. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the secondary school teachers to gain insight into their subjective views on SRL. Although the teachers’ instructional practices could foster SRL, teachers spent little time explicitly teaching SRL strategies. Moreover, they taught mainly cognitive strategies and very few metacognitive strategies. These results were more pronounced at the primary level than at the secondary level. Primary school teachers provided learning environments conducive to self-regulation more often than secondary school teachers did. The interviews revealed that the teachers lacked knowledge about metacognition as an important component of SRL and were rather reluctant to promote it; however, most of them valued cognitive and motivational components of SRL. Primary and secondary school teachers need training to enhance their direct and indirect instruction of SRL. They could benefit in particular from learning about explicit instruction of SRL strategies and metacognition.     

Teaching for understanding and/or self-regulated learning? A video-based analysis of reform-oriented mathematics instruction in Switzerland

In mathematics instruction, can a teacher implement surface features of instruction that foster self-regulated learning as well as achieve quality at the deeper level of instruction, that is, focus on higher-order thinking, problem-solving, and mathematical modeling? An educational reform effort in Switzerland, which is based on constructivist and sociocultural theories of mathematics learning, targets both these dimensions: self-regulated learning and conceptual understanding. We examined the realization of the two dimensions in classroom instruction in a video-based study of 79 eighth-grade math classes using three kinds of data: videotapes of mathematics lessons, student and teacher questionnaires, and achievement tests. As to the surface level of instruction, teachers reported how frequently they provided opportunities for self-regulated learning. With regard to the deeper level of instruction, teachers reported how frequently they provided opportunities for independent problem solving. In addition, we examined the extent to which teachers’ pedagogical beliefs reflected a constructivist orientation. The results showed that teachers implemented the two dimensions relatively independently of one another. Teachers’ constructivist-oriented beliefs influenced only opportunities provided for independent problem solving and did not affect opportunities for self-regulated learning. Opportunities for self-regulated learning had a positive effect on students’ learning experience. Professional development should encourage teachers to take greater account of both surface-level and deeper-level (quality) features of instruction.     

Promotion of self-regulated learning in classrooms: investigating frequency, quality, and consequences for student performance

An implication of the current research on self-regulation is to implement the promotion of self-regulated learning in schools. Teachers can promote self-regulated learning either directly by teaching learning strategies or indirectly by arranging a learning environment that enables students to practise self-regulation. This study investigates teachers’ direct and indirect promotion of self-regulated learning and its relation to the development of students’ performance. Twenty German mathematics teachers with their overall 538 students (grade 9) were videotaped for a three-lesson unit on the Pythagorean Theorem. Students’ mathematics performance was tested several times before and after the observed lessons. A low-inferent coding system was applied to assess the teachers’ implicit or explicit instruction of cognitive strategies (e.g., organisation), metacognitive strategies (e.g., planning), and motivational strategies (e.g., resource management). High-inferent ratings were used to assess features of the learning environment that foster self-regulation. Results reveal that a great amount of strategy teaching takes place in an implicit way, whereas explicit strategy teaching and supportive learning environment are rare. The instruction of organisation strategies and some features of the learning environment (constructivism, transfer) relate positively to students’ performance development. In contrast to implicit strategy instruction, explicit strategy instruction was associated with a gain in performance. These results reveal a discrepancy between the usefulness of explicit strategy instruction and its rare occurrence in classrooms.     

Perception of reading instruction and self-regulated learning: A comparison between Chinese students in Hong Kong and Beijing

Based on the theoretical framework of self-regulated learning (SRL), the study aimed to examine whether the proposed relationship between classroom environment and students’ SRL was applicable in the case of Chinese readers. In this study, a questionnaire measuring students’ perception of reading instruction, strategy use, and reading motivation was completed by 1,654 Hong Kong and 2,006 Beijing students from grade 10. By comparing students from two different Chinese cities, the study also attempted to understand the learning attitudes and behaviors of students who share the same Confucian cultural backgrounds but experience different educational environments. The findings of this study indicated that the positive effects of perceived reading instruction on Chinese students’ SRL mainly came from strategy and metacognitive-based instruction, teacher support, and the nature of task. While both Hong Kong and Beijing students demonstrated a positive attitude towards their reading instruction as well as a positive degree of strategy use and reading motivation, significant area differences were found in nearly all measured variables. These findings have been discussed in the light of the contextual environments of the two Chinese cities. The study provides useful insights for understanding Chinese learners and Chinese classrooms from the perspective of SRL.     

Promoting preservice teachers’ dual self-regulation roles as learners and as teachers: effects of generic vs. specific prompts

Researchers have recently suggested that teachers must undertake important dual self- regulation roles if they want to become effective at improving their students’ self-regulation. First, teachers need to become proficient at self-regulated learning (SRL) themselves, and then teachers need to learn explicitly how to proactively teach SRL – termed self-regulating teaching (SRT). Considering that both roles are difficult to attain by novice teachers, supports (prompts) are essential. We examined an intervention comparing the usefulness of two prompting conditions – generic versus specific – for developing both SRL (as learners) and SRT (as teachers) among 90 preservice science teachers engaging in explicit self-regulation instruction and reflective group discussion about learning/teaching experiences (observed learning clips, in-action teaching). We compared the two group conditions by using two SRL assessments and two SRT assessments. Mixed methods indicated that, as expected, the specific-prompts condition outperformed the generic-prompts condition on self-awareness of own SRL, skills for accurately noticing authentic videotaped students’ SRL, and explicit usage of SRT during actual teaching experiences. As expected, no differences emerged between generic and specific prompts in applying SRT to a novel lesson-design task (far-transfer measure). These findings, supported by two case studies’ sequential pattern analysis, offered an important contribution to theoretical and practical understanding of novice teachers’ self-regulation prompting approaches, practice modes, and multidimensional assessments of teachers’ professional development.     

Promoting Self-Regulation in Science Education: Metacognition as Part of a Broader Perspective on Learning

The purpose of this article is to review recent research on self-regulated learning and discuss the implications of this research for science education. We draw on examples of self-regulated learning from the science education literature to summarise and illustrate effective instructional methods and the development of metacognitive understanding (Gunstone; 1999a; Rickey & Stacy, 2000; White & Mitchell, 1994). We also focus on the crucial role that metacognition plays in self-regulation (Baird & White, 1996; Nichols, Tippins, & Wieseman, 1997; White, 1998). We divide our discussion into two main parts. The first focuses on three components of self-regulated learning, including cognition, metacognition, and motivation. We relate these aspects of self-regulation to current practices in science education. The second section focuses on six general instructional strategies for improving self-regulation in the science classroom. We focus on the use of inquiry based learning, the role of collaborative support, strategy and problem solving instruction, the construction of mental models, the use of technology to support learning, and the role of personal beliefs such as self-efficacy and epistemological world views. These instructional strategies are selected because they reflect extensive research agendas over the last decade within the science education literature and are essential to metacognition and self-regulation (Butler & Winne, 1995; Gunstone, 1999b).     

Preparing preservice teachers for self-regulated learning in the context of technological pedagogical content knowledge

The present study investigated effects of two hypermedia environments on 95 preservice university teachers' self-regulated learning (SRL) in the context of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK): hypermedia with metacognitive instruction (HYP + META) and without (HYP). The study combined online reflections with self-report measures to assess SRL processes. Results showed that exposure to metacognitive support using the IMPROVE self-questioning method may enhance preservice teachers' ability to reflect on and regulate their learning processes. This, in turn, can develop their TPCK, both as learners (comprehension skills) and as teachers (design skills). Further analysis indicated high correlations within SRL measures (self-reports, online reflections) and between SRL and TPCK tasks. Implications are discussed for teacher training in SRL-integrated TPCK contexts.     

The role of persuasive research in educational progress

This article describes how scaffolded instruction during whole-class mathematics lessons can provide the knowledge, skills, and supportive context for developing students' self-regulatory processes. In examining classroom interactions through discourse analysis, these qualitative methods reflect a theoretical change from viewing self-regulation as an individual process to that of a social process. This article illustrates how studying instructional scaffolding through the analyses of instructional discourse helps further the understanding of how self-regulated learning develops and is realized in mathematics classrooms. Qualitative methods, such as discourse analyses, and their underlying theoretical frameworks have great potential to help "unlock" theories of learning, motivation, and self-regulation through exploring the reciprocity of teaching and learning in classrooms.     

Self-regulatory teaching in mathematics: relations to teachers' motivation,affect and professional commitment

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teachers' reports on self-regulatory strategy use in mathematics instruction and individual motivational and affective factors. Two hundred and ninety-two Greek primary school teachers responded to two questionnaires assessing (a) the strategies they use themselves to plan, monitor and evaluate mathematics instruction and (b) the strategies they use to activate and enhance students' self-regulated learning in mathematics. Path analysis showed that teachers' self-regulation strategies both for their own teaching and for enhancing students' self-regulation in mathematics were predicted by their self-efficacy beliefs in teaching mathematics, the value they attribute to mathematics and their emotional commitment to their profession. Teachers' enjoyment of mathematics teaching did not directly predict their reported use of self-regulatory instructional strategies. The implications of the study are related to the development of teachers' training programmes in self-regulated instruction.     

Creating classroom contexts that support young children's development of self-regulated learning

The purpose of the research reported in this chapter is twofold: first, to identify features of classroom environments that promote self-regulated approaches to reading and writing in young children; and second, to work collaboratively with teachers, helping them become proficient at designing tasks and structuring interactions with students that promote self-regulated learning (SRL). Five primary (kindergarten — grade 3) teachers and their students were involved in the study. Evidence from classroom observations indicates that these five teachers consistently involved their students in complex reading and writing activities, choosing what to read and write about, modifying tasks to control challenge, and evaluating their reading and writing processes and products. Also, these teachers provided support that was instrumental to students’ development of SRL, and employed non-threatening evaluation practices. Consistent with previous research that characterizes self-regulated learners, students in these classrooms demonstrated high levels of metacognition, intrinsic motivation, and strategic action.     

Self-regulated learning: Bridging the gap between metacognitive and metamotivation theories

Winne's commentary article examined some theoretical and empirical studies not regularly cited in the literature of educational psychology. He attempted to identify existing gaps in the self-regulated learning (SRL) theory. Only a glimpse was offered of affective variables (self-referenced cognitions and affect) that influence SRL. Nevertheless, there is ample theoretical and empirical evidence that attest that SRL charges learners not only for metacognitive self-regulation but for metamotivational self-regulation as well. Consequently, a view that takes the motivated student as a starting point is a biased view. Educational psychologists should make their theories of SRL domain-specific and extend them to include affective variables, multiple goal monitoring, and multiple forms of self-regulation. These multiple forms of self-regulation ought to be made explicit educational goals when starting a new content domain.     

Formative Assessment: Assessment Is for Self-regulated Learning

The article draws from 199 sources on assessment, learning, and motivation to present a detailed decomposition of the values, theories, and goals of formative assessment. This article will discuss the extent to which formative feedback actualizes and reinforces self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies among students. Theoreticians agree that SRL is predictive of improved academic outcomes and motivation because students acquire the adaptive and autonomous learning characteristics required for an enhanced engagement with the learning process and subsequent successful performance. The theory of formative assessment is found to be a unifying theory of instruction, which guides practice and improves the learning process by developing SRL strategies among learners. In a postmodern era characterized by rapid technical and scientific advance and obsolescence, there is a growing emphasis on the acquisition of learning strategies which people may rely on across the entire span of their life. Research consistently finds that the self-regulation of cognitive and affective states supports the drive for lifelong learning by: enhancing the motivational disposition to learn, enriching reasoning, refining meta-cognitive skills, and improving performance outcomes. The specific purposes of the article are to provide practitioners, administrators and policy-makers with: (a) an account of the very extensive conceptual territory that is the ‘theory of formative assessment’ and (b) how the goals of formative feedback operate to reveal recondite learning processes, thereby reinforcing SRL strategies which support learning, improve outcomes and actualize the drive for lifelong learning.     

Self-regulation and academic achievement and resilience: A longitudinal study

There is a growing body of research indicating that students who can self-regulate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral aspects of their academic functioning are more effective as learners. We studied relations between the self-regulation strategies used by a group of Italian students during the final years of high school and their subsequent academic achievement and resilience in pursuing higher education. We used the self-regulated learning interview schedule, which focuses on cognitive, motivational, and behavioral strategies used during academic learning in both classroom and non-classroom contexts. The cognitive self-regulation strategy of organizing and transforming proved to be a significant predictor of the students’ course grades in Italian, mathematics, and technical subjects in high school and in their subsequent average course grades and examinations passed at the university. The motivational self-regulation strategy of self-consequences was a significant predictor of the students’ high school diploma grades and their intention to continue with their education after high school.     

A framework for classroom assessment,learning, and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

We present a conceptual framework that leverages synergies between classroom assessment (CA) practices and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory to support academic growth and instruction. We articulate the processes shared by CA and SRL, drawing on a model of SRL with three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. We blend this SRL model with CA to create the CA:SRL framework in four stages: (1) pre-assessment, (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, (3) formal assessment, and (4) summarizing assessment evidence. We elucidate how SRL processes are involved at each stage and can be drawn on to support learning development and teacher understanding and co-regulation of learning. This framework is important in that it depicts how assessment and learning processes interact dynamically for both teachers and students in classrooms, and demonstrates that such interactions encompass the full breadth of purposes in CA, from planning through summation of evidence.     

Finnish students’ reasons for their achievement in classroom activities: focus on features that support self-regulated learning

The aim of this study was to investigate how finnish students explain factors that contribute to their achievement in classroom learning activities and whether these factors are related to support of self-regulated learning (SRL) in classroom. Over seven weeks, 24 primary school students were videotaped during their typical classroom activities in 28 lessons to capture moments when they succeeded in learning tasks. From the video observations, 62 episodes were edited and used in stimulated recall interviews in which students were asked to report the reasons they related to their achievement in learning situations. Data-driven content analysis was used to analyse the open-ended interview data. The video observation data were analysed and sorted into theory-driven categories in order to find out how SRL was supported in classrooms. The results showed that students describe achievement through the actions that they took in the learning situations, such as being able accomplish the task. The reasons given for their achievement dealt with ability to accomplish the tasks or doing academic activities in order to achieve in the task. Furthermore, the students recognised classroom activities that support SRL, acknowledging their contribution to their achievement, mostly through the support that they received from their teachers and peers.     

A case study of a formative assessment practice and the effects on students’ self-regulated learning

The study investigates one mathematics teacher’s implementation of formative assessment and its effects on students’ self-regulated learning (SRL). A questionnaire administered before and after the eight-month long intervention shows a significant effect, compared to two control classes, on students’ motivational beliefs involved in SRL. Qualitative data shows a notable enhancement of the students’ SRL behavior in the classroom. Analysis of the teacher’s implemented formative assessment shows a practice integrating several aspects of formative assessment, and provides empirical evidence of what formative assessment with large effects on students’ SRL may look like and how it fits with models of SRL development.     

“Practising what we preach”—teacher educators’ dilemmas in promoting self-regulated learning: a cross case comparison

Teacher educators, as mentors involved in developing student–teacher learning, encounter increasing demands to promote self-regulated learning (SRL) in their students. This study investigated how teacher educators are committed to promoting SRL in their students, as well as how they promote their own professional development as self-regulated learners, which may (or may not) mirror the way they support SRL in their students.In both the Israeli and Dutch teacher education contexts, the study investigated how teacher educators conceptualize SRL and what they mean by actively utilizing SRL approaches, both as a framework for their own professional development and as a way to involve their students in self-directed learning.The study notes several professional dilemmas teacher educators face with respect to SRL. These dilemmas seem to be connected to their underlying conceptions of teaching and learning, as well as the demands of the setting in which they teach. Furthermore, what teacher educators themselves are doing in terms of SRL does not align with what they are teaching others to do; this divergence was the case in the Dutch context more than in the Israeli context. As such, teacher educators struggled with both learning to use SRL approaches themselves, and teaching their students to use them.     

Learning from Learning Kits: gStudy Traces of Students’ Self-Regulated Engagements with Computerized Content

Researching self-regulated learning (SRL) as a process that evolves across multiple episodes of studying poses large methodological challenges. While self-report data provide useful information about learners’ perceptions of learning, these data are not reliable indicators of studying tactics learners actually use while studying, especially when learners are young children. We argue that self-reports about SRL need to be augmented by fine-grained traces that are records of learners’ actual activities as they study. We describe how gStudy software unobtrusively collects detailed trace data about learners’ use of study tactics as they engage with content presented in learning kits—collections of documents (e.g., texts, graphics, video clips) and tasks (e.g., notes, concept maps) on which learners operate to study. We suggest that trace data can advance research about how learners select, monitor, assemble, rehearse, and translate information to learn it, and provide raw materials for mapping SRL and its effects. Examples from the Life Cycles Learning Kit that supports grade 1 students learning about the life cycles of humans and frogs are given.