Research Focus: Self Regulated Learning skills in the Intermediate Classroom

I have made a final decision (I think…) on my research focus for my #TIEgrad Masters project.  After going back and forth from idea to idea, I have decided to choose a topic of high interest for me.  Since last summer when we met Mariel Miller in EDCI 591, I have been intrigued by the topic of Self Regulated Learning skills.  For years now, I have been familiar with this term.  It is a concept that is talked about almost daily in the schools I work in.  In fact, when I heard last summer that Mariel Miller would be discussing her research in SRL, I felt apprehensive in attending because the phrase has been so overused in my circles.  I have worked in schools that have spent countless hours developing methods of supporting students in regulating their emotions and behaviours.  However, when Mariel Miller came to our class this past summer, she did not mentions emotions and behaviours, but rather focused on the idea that students need to be able to regulate their learning in order to accomplish the higher level tasks their teachers are asking them to do.  It hit me in that moment, this is why inquiry learning doesn’t work in my classroom.  This is why the more freedom I give my students to control their own learning, the less they learn.  They do not yet have the self regulated learning tools that they need to support freedom and independent learning.

Through my readings of Perry & Drummond (2002) and Nietfeld, Shores, and Hoffmann (2014) I found that the common thread when working with SRL was helping students understand and focus on their own metacognition, strategic learning, and goal setting.  Miller (2014) had mentioned that SRL was a skill that can be learned, controlled, and improved.  It’s not something we master.  It’s a lifelong journey.  I see so many children coming into my class who have hardly begun the journey to obtaining SRL skills.  Yet we are asking them to learn through inquiry and projects while they don’t even have the skills to start the process, let alone produce any content or meaningful learning.

I am very interested in reading more on this topic.  I would like to learn how I can purposefully support students in this area.  It is my hope that through my research and readings in the next months that I can develop a simple resource for myself and colleagues to support students in developing the necessary skills to become self-motivated, lifelong learners.  I imagine that the resource that I create will give teachers digital and non-digital tools to support students in a methodological way.  I envision this resource being the starting point for any teacher who would like to develop an inquiry based classroom with students who are capable of directing their own learning in a meaningful and authentic way.

Resources Used:

Nietfeld, J. L., Shores, L. R., & Hoffmann, K. F. (2014). Self-regulation and gender within a game-based learning environment. Journal of Educational Psychology, (advance online publication).

Perry, N. E., & Drummond, L. (2002). Helping young students become self-regulated researchers and writers. The Reading Teacher, 56(3), 298-310.