Teaching Cognitive and Metacognitive SRL Strategies in the Science Class: An Experimental Design to Determine Effect on Academic Achievement

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of teaching cognitive and metacognitive SRL strategies on the academic achievement of seventh grade students through an experimental design with a pre and posttest and a comparison group. The Reciprocal Causation Model based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Zimmerman ́s Model of Self-Regulation were used as the theoretical framework. The intervention provided to the experimental group (Group A; n=15) consisted of the direct and explicit instruction of cognitive and metacognitive SRL strategies. The intervention in the comparison group (Group B; n=15) consisted of self-directed learning. The effect of the intervention was determined by running a t-test to compare pre and posttest results. A significance level of .05 was established for each of the four hypotheses. The results from the t-test (.032) from the posttest of the experimental group and the comparison group show that the differences found were statistically significant. Moreover, a Cohen’s d coefficient of 0.82 was obtained, which represents a large effect size. This finding suggests that the direct and explicit instruction of cognitive and metacognitive SRL strategies has a greater effect on the academic achievement than self-directed instruction. Contrarily, the results from the t-test (.112) that compared the sample means () obtained from the pre and posttest of the experimental group (Group A) indicated that the differences found were not statistically significant. However, a Cohen’s d coefficient of 0.58 was obtained, representing a moderate effect size. This finding could suggest that the complexity of the design requires additional controls to be put into place. With regards to the comparison group (Group B), and according to student responses in the SRL strategy a Departamento de Educación, Distrito Escolar de Las Marías (Puerto Rico United States); b Universidad Metropolitana, SUAGM (Puerto Rico United States). Correspondence: Marilyn Medina Martínez, Coordinadora Regional PPAA de Mayagüez, Supervisora de Inglés, Departamento de Educación, Distrito de Las Marías, #5 Calle Palmer Suite 1. Las Marias, PR 00670. mmedina97@email.suagm.edu Medina-Martínez and Pagán-Maldonado, International Journal of Educational Excellence, (2016) Vol. 2, No. 1, 77-105. ISSN 2373-5929 DOI: 10.18562/IJEE.020 use logs, it was evidenced that these strategies were used infrequently. Recommendations for future investigations are provided. Key-Words: Self-Regulation, Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies, Direct and Explicit Instruction, Self-Directed Learning. ______________________________________________________________________