THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STUDENT VIEWS RELATED TO MATHEMATICS AND COMPONENTS OF SELF-REGULATED LEARNING

Author(s):

Sukru KayaDouglas T. Owens
Stephen J. Pape

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

24. Mathematics Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

24 SES 01, Student Subjectivities in Mathematics

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-28

09:15-10:45

Room:

NIG, HS III

Chair:

Ariane Sarah Willems

Contribution

The social cognitive perspective provides useful insight into how students’ self-regulation, motivation, cognition, and behavior interact to explain learning, engagement and performance outcomes. This perspective emphasizes students’ effective use of strategies and processes to become independent, strategic learners (Pintrich, 2000; Schunk, 2001; Zimmerman, 2000). In mathematics education, strategic behaviors are associated with higher problem-solving skills and achievement (Pape & Wang, 2003; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986, 1988, 1990). Furthermore, strategic learners use different motivational, cognitive, and metacognitive strategies to achieve their goals. Studies from a social cognitive perspective indicate that self-regulated learning (SRL) is desirable in classrooms (De Corte et al, 2000; Pape & Wang, 2003; Schunk, 1990; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986, 1988, 1990). Self-regulation is desirable because of the effect it has on educational and behavioral outcomes. Thus, when students attain SRL skills and competencies, their mathematical learning and understanding will be enhanced (De Corte, Verschaffel, Op’t Eynde, 2000; Pape, 2005). Furthermore, use of cognitive, metacognitive and motivational components of SRL may depend on students’ beliefs and dispositions toward mathematics (Mason & Scraviani, 2004; Schoenfeld, 1983, 1992). From a social cognitive perspective, SRL is a cyclical process due to the changing nature of personal, behavioral and environmental factors, and students need to use feedback from prior experiences to make adjustments about their current efforts (Zimmerman, 1998, 2000). Models that examined students’ beliefs about knowledge and knowing indicate that there is an important relationship between the sophistication of students’ beliefs, their achievement, and their strategy use (Op’t Eynde, De Corte, Verschaffel, 2002; Hofer, 1999; McLeod, 1992; Schoenfeld, 1989). Furthermore, students’ self-confidence in their ability and their perceptions of importance of subject-matter influence their engagement and learning (Op’t Eynde & De Corte, 2003; Kloosterman, 1996; Mason, 2003; McLeod, 1992; Schoenfeld, 1988). The present study examined students’ beliefs about mathematics and provides evidence for the relationships between the nature of students’ beliefs and their self-regulated learning behavior in mathematics. The present study aimed to provide evidence for how students’ beliefs about mathematics facilitate or constrain their SRL strategies. The purpose of this presentation is to begin a dialogue with European colleagues regarding the relationships found within this U.S. student sample. Findings within European student samples indicate similar relationships among these variables (Dahl, Bals, Turi, 2005, Paulsen & Feldman, 2005, De Corte et al., 2000). We seek to engage similar research within a more international sample of students.

Method

This study explored the connections between SRL and students’ beliefs about mathematics among 1263 middle and high school Algebra I students across the United States. Students were participants in the Classroom Connectivity in Promoting Mathematics and Science Achievement (CCMS) project, which is an interdisciplinary effort to incorporate technology into classrooms in order to increase students’ mathematics achievement. Students completed two measures, the Student View about Mathematics (Pape, Kaya, Owens, Irving, & Boscardin, 2005), which measured student views related to mathematics (i.e., importance, self-confidence, and beliefs related to mathematics), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991), which measured students’ SRL strategies (i.e., motivation, cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies). Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the causal attributions to explain the relationships between students’ views and strategic behaviors (Byrne, 2001; Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993).

Expected Outcomes

Prior research indicates that students’ beliefs about the nature of knowledge influence their task-related learning strategies and motivation (Dahl et al., 2005). Students who have sophisticated beliefs about mathematics tend to report more complex SRL strategies and motivation (Hofer, 1999; McLeod, 1992). Students who have high levels of self-confidence in mathematics and perceive mathematics as an important subject, report more positive motivation (House, 2006; Kloosterman & Cougan, 1994). Therefore, it is expected that student views related to mathematics directly influence their strategic behaviors. Furthermore, motivation is positively related to use of cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies (Pintrinch & De Groot, 1990). Based on these findings, students’ motivation will have a direct influence on students’ cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies. Furthermore, it is also expected that student views related to mathematics have indirect influence on students’ use of cognitive, metacognitive and resource management strategies through their effects on motivation.

References

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Author Information

Sukru Kaya

TUBITAK

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Group

ANKARA

212

Douglas T. Owens

The Ohio State University, USA

Stephen J. Pape

University of Florida, USA

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