Integrating Self-Regulated Learning Into STEM Courses: Maximizing Learning Outcomes With The Success Through Self-Regulated Learning Framework

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This IUSE Level 2 Engaged Student Learning project aims to serve the national interest by engaging more people with diverse backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The project aims to improve postsecondary students' academic success and retention within STEM disciplines using the Success through Self-Regulated Learning (StSRL) framework. In self-regulated learning, students manage their behavior before, during, and after a learning task to allow them to master the task or concept at hand. Theoretically and empirically grounded, the StSRL framework will target five related components of self-regulated learning: strategy use, metacognition, motivation, management, and content practice. The framework will provide a platform for instructors to generate dynamic, bidirectional prompts that students respond to through an app or a course learning management system (LMS), thereby embedding effective self-regulated learning practices within scientific course contexts. Prompts will vary by format (e.g., multiple choice, open-ended response, slider), as well as by intended learning function (i.e., metacognition, strategy, motivation, content, management). Preliminary data suggest the StSRL framework holds promise to increase students’ learning and retention in STEM pipelines. This project plans to first focus on students enrolled in biology courses and then will scale to additional STEM contexts. Data collected from this project will allow the project team to study how to maximize the intervention and will inform faculty professional development to support students’ self-regulated learning. The project team plans to test the efficacy of the Success through Self-Regulated Learning (StSRL) framework and systematic interventions designed to increase successful learning outcomes, student achievement, and retention in post-secondary STEM coursework. This project intends to address four overarching objectives: 1) Further test the impact of instructor and student use of the StSRL framework on SRL, self-efficacy, and achievement outcomes, 2) Examine how differences in instructors’ use of the framework inform intervention success, 3) Test StSRL generalizability and scale up across STEM domains and learning contexts, and 4) Iteratively design and provide faculty professional development for SRL STEM interventions. Quantitative methods will be employed to study whether such objectives have been met. This project plans to measure the impact of the framework and interventions on student achievement and retention in STEM through rich data sources. Project data will include students’ demographics, course performance, and StSRL prompt performance, as well as SRL outcomes, such as metacognition, motivational variables, and learning strategy use. In addition, data analytics from the bidirectional, real-time interventions will contribute to understanding the implementation of large-scale, technology-supported interventions. Rigorous study of instructors’ use of the framework will inform and improve faculty professional development to serve as a model for scaling interventions. An interdisciplinary team of learning researchers and science faculty will offer a combination of education theory expertise with discipline-based education research knowledge to contribute broadly to scholarly communities. This project hopes to not only directly impact students’ self-regulated learning, learning outcomes, and retention, but also provide a roadmap for deep collaborations among learning experts and science-content experts to drive advancement of evidence-based pedagogies in STEM contexts. Results from previous work in biology and physics settings will be scaled to include other disciplines and, importantly, other populations, including learners enrolled in regional colleges, adult STEM learners in online settings, and underrepresented minority students participating in summer bridge programs. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.