Description of Self-Regulation Theory
Description
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What is Self-Regulation Theory?
Self regulated learning is the process of monitoring one's cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development. When a student is capable of self regulation they are able to take control of their learning outcomes. Specifically there are three principles involved in the self-regulated learning process- metacognition, using strategies, and sustained motivation. Students are intrinsically motivated to set and achieve their goals because they have developed a personal connection with the activity. Students learn to develop and accomplish personal goals that allow them to see their success on a task. To develop this process students engage in forethought, which consists of analyzing a task, setting goals, being strategic, and implementing these strategies, in order to sustain motivation. There is an emphasis, according to the theory, on achieving mastery goals ( i.e. goals directed towards overall progress and stimulated by internal factors, such as interest) rather than performance goals (i.e. goals directed towards situational success and stimulated by external factors, such as good grades). It is also important for a self-regulated learner to set goals that are appropriate, challenging, representative of a mastery goal, and are chosen by the individual. Another process in self regulated learning is metacognition, which is the ability to think about ones thought, more specifically it involves the ability to self-monitor and self-evaluate. All this is however premised on the bases that the student has an understanding of his/her self. The self regulation process can be seen anytime a teacher provides a student with choices or allows them set their own goal for an assignment or project. The student is scaffolded through the instructional model to gain self regulatory abilities. Then allowed time to reflect and receive feedback, before revising to make improvement. The greatest outcome of this process is achieved when the student internalizes their learning and is capable of independent self regulation. This can be achieved by receiving a topic and then creating a process of monitoring, reflecting, and revising that will allow for a better final outcome. This involves the ability to have a student reflect on their own work, while they are internalizing the tools needed to go farther in the next project or objective. This is the process we have used in creating this self-motivation project; we created, then reflected and revised, then went back and reflected again on the final outcome. This project has required us to be metacognitive and use several learning strategies to create a thoroughly self-regulated project. -
Self-Regulation Theory and Learning
Hickey (1997) defines self-regulation as indicative of, “personalized cognition and motivation” thus; making self regulation is a powerful motivational model to engender internalization and enduring learning. However, this process can be difficult for students with various special needs as they may require extra time and scaffolding to achieve these same outcomes. Self regulated learning has implications for classroom management techniques because the physical environment affects the ability to self regulate. For example students with behavioral issues often have to be in a self contained environment to help them regulate themselves and their learning. Therefore, self regulation needs to be strategically planned and implemented depending on the age, developmental level, or emotional or behavioral disorders of those students. Typically the process of self regulation occurs in social contexts, where a novice observes an expert and eventually internalizes the expert's way of regulating him/herself. The teacher's role in the learning process can vary depending on the aforementioned factors, however, it is paramount that the teacher be active and involved in motivating their students to internalize and develop enduring learning. If self-regulation is not learned early, the student will begin to fall behind, more time will be spent on classroom management techniques than teaching or personalizing the content matter. The bridge from the classroom to the real world will never be created that would allow for the transfer of classroom skills to the real world environment. -
What goes into Creating Self-Regulation?
When looking into factors that determine how to create a self-regulation in students, we have found that there are three key factors; the teaching styles, the students' learning styles, and the outside factors that are involved. The first factor is the teaching style used in the classroom. One issue is the way the classroom is managed, because a teacher needs to set up structure that can foster creative learning through guided instruction and then gradually fade the instruction out leaving the student to work by independently. This can involve the way the classroom is set up, anything from desk arrangement to bulletin boards, teachers methods of instruction and students learning activities. The next issue that arises is the students learning styles. This includes the students prior knowledge and their willingness accept new knowledge that goes against their prior conceptions of the material. The students developmental levels are key factor along with the students ideas on their self-concepts. The next factor that goes into creating a self-regulated classroom is finding out what outside factors are affecting the students. These can be anything from the outside levels of parental involvement and the motivational levels of the parents as it pertains to students learning. Family dynamics play a integral part of the self-regulation process, because if students are not self-regulated at home they will be less likely to self-regulated learners. Family support is also a key component, these include the presence of single parent homes, and the amount of attention the student receives while at the home.
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How to use Self-Regulation in the Classroom?
There are several ways of creating self-regulated learners through classroom instruction, these are; cognitive instruction, strategic instruction methods, and by focusing on six key steps that allow for self-regulation. The first aspect of learning to become a self-regulated learner is the the teachers ability to teach for cognitive instruction. According to Paris and Paris' 2001 article, "Classroom Applications of Research on Self-Regulated Learning," the several key factors that include, explanations, guided inquiry, scaffolded support, reciprocal teaching, and collaborative learning. This process helps to foster reflective discourse among students and teacher alike. These help to build up the students knowledge of the subject matter, which in turn helps to build the students' confidence levels. These will lead to students to become strategic learners, which is making children aware of specific strategies which will help them to connect the learning strategies to success in the classroom. It also helps them to choose and monitor specific strategies that involve demonstration that promote the children's strategies for learning how to problem solve correctly. This all leads to the six key steps that are needed for the creation of a self-regulated learner, or the recursive stages of learning. -
1. Activating and developing background knowledge of the subject matter, which includes a rich variety of strategies that students can use when completing a task. This would be the teachers beginning instruction of the subject matter, a small lesson that would begin to spark the students' interest of the subject. For instance, if the teacher were teaching a unit on plants the first part of the lesson might be to have the students start growing their own plants, while they are reading books on plant care and the anatomy of plants.
2. Discussion between the teacher and students of how, when, and why certain strategies are used in certain times. From the previous example, the teacher would then create discussions of which strategies the children used and why, in growing their own plants.
3. The cognitive model which is, the students' understanding that using a particular strategy will lead to better outcomes, which allow the students feel that the strategy worked in their favor. The teacher would have the students choose what type of soil and the amount of light that each plant would receive and study the results of the plant growth. While at the same time doing a lesson on what helps plants to grown in different environments and conditions.
4. The mnemonic memorization, which is students use of strategies in a way that allows for the students to internalize the strategy, making it applicable everyday. The students would then reflect upon the results they got from their previous experiments on the plants, and decide if they made good or bad choices.
5. Supported performance, this is the students ability to use a strategy that worked in one subject and take that strategy and use it in another subject because of the results it rendered. The students go into another subject and study the transformation of plants throughout history, and the causes for these transformation.
6. Independent performance, allowing the student to practice the learning strategy daily so that is can spill over into their everyday life. The students would take the knowledge they have learned in the class already and find areas in their own lives where they feel that the information they have gathered about plants is useful. Whether it is on the impact of global warming, or the destruction of rainforest, or the creation of their own productive gardens at home.
Concept Map for Self-Regulation Theory
References on Self-Regulation