Self-regulatory behavior has become a big topic for me recently. Self-regulatory behavior is the idea that students and learners “self-regulate;” adopt behaviors that help them enhance their own learning. For example, reading an article and writing notes in the margin is a type of self-regulatory behavior. Underlining key or important sentences is another type of self-regulatory behavior. Re-examining notes taken from lecture, or deciding to finish homework immediately after school rather than right before class is another type of self-regulatory behavior. Most experts agree that everyone self-regulates. The most successful students however, have self-regulatory behaviors that work! As educators and parents, we sometimes think that good self-regulatory practices are self-evident, that the value and importance of good organizational skills are obvious. As someone who has tried to motivate young learners, the reality is somewhat different. . .
In a recent discussion with colleagues, the question came up “Can self-regulatory behavior be taught?” Certainly many attempts have been made at teaching study skills to young learners but my experience is that teaching of the study skills is often so poorly done that it becomes counter-productive. Requiring a journal, for example, where the student reflects on what they do/do not do to enhance their learning many times can become just another assignment that needs to be completed. Teaching note-taking skills, unless done carefully, becomes another exercise in frustration for both the student and teacher. Does that mean that teaching study skills is a bad idea? Certainly not. I think my colleague could have asked the question differently: “Can self-regulatory skills be taught effectively?”
One possible technique is modeling. Zimmerman& Kitsantas, two researchers with an impressive background in self-regulatory research, conducted an excellent study indicating that students can acquire long lasting self-regulatory behaviors through observation and emulation modeling. The study indicates that students learn more effectively when viewing “coping” models rather than “mastery” models when learning fractions. In plainer English, the research indicates that when students watch a model who struggles to complete a problem (making mistakes, self-correcting), they learn more effectively than when watching a model efficiently complete the same problem with no errors.
The reason I am interested in this research is because, as I have stated in a previous post, I have a YouTube channel (FerranteMath) where I’ve created a series of videos where I explain step-by-step how to solve algebra problems. Taking a page from the Zimmerman & Kitsantas study, I have not edited out any initial mistakes I’ve made but instead have left in the parts where I self-correct. I also am conscious of “thinking out loud” and explaining why I make the choices I make while solving the problem. The feedback I’ve received so far from both students and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.
A second technique for teaching self-regulatory behavior is choice. Give students, especially older students such as high schoolers, more choice in their learning. Deci, Vallerand, Pellitier, and Ryan have written persuasively about creating autonomy-supportive classrooms versus the traditional teacher-driven classroom. Their research has shown that giving students greater autonomy promotes more cognitive flexibility, creativity, and self esteem. They suggest that teachers (and parents) take the point of view of the learner and relate what is important from a student’s point of view. Doing so helps create a level of interest in students that has a better chance of being internalized rather than externally imposed. As a teacher of over twenty years, I can attest to the notion that internally motivated students become life-long learners rather than those who are driven from external motivations.
