Chair: Litchfield, Brenda Carol
DAI-A 61/12, p. 4656, Jun 2001

 This study investigated the effects of self-regulated learning strategy instruction on strategy use and academic achievement in middle school science classes. Gender differences in strategy use and academic achievement were evaluated. The research questions focused on the development of instructional strategies to help students become self-regulated learners. Groups of students were given the opportunity to use self-regulated learning strategies with and without prompting. Gender differences within instructional group and strategy use were evaluated. According to these research findings, prompting appears to be a critical component of self-regulated learning strategy instruction with all groups. Selected groups showed greater increases in both academic achievement and self-regulated learning strategy use when prompting was a component of self-regulated learning strategy instruction. Students who demonstrated either below average self-regulated learning strategy skills, or lower GPAs showed the greatest gain from prompting plus instruction. Gender differences were demonstrated, with females showing greater self-regulated learning strategy use compared to males. The findings from this study emphasize the importance of self-regulated learning strategy instruction, especially for middle school students.