Supporting students’ self-regulated learning through motivational and metacognitive prompts in the museum

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An aim of school education is to create a basis for lifelong learning, for active participation in societal processes and for actively shaping one's own surrounding (Düx & Sass, 2005; KMK, 2004, p.6; see also comments on sustainable education and lifelong learning in the “LehrplanPLUS Gymnasium Bayern”; the curriculum for higher education in Bavaria). For this purpose, the ability to acquire knowledge autonomously is an important skill, not only in the school context but also in other informal learning contexts (Hungerland & Overwien, 2004). This is where the proposed research project comes in. It aims to investigate the suitability of instructional prompts as effective methods to trigger and support students’ self-regulated learning in science museums. To this end, the effects of different types of prompts [(1) metacognitive, (2) motivational, (3) metacognitive + motivational, (4) no prompts as control group] on cognitive and motivational learning processes as well as on initial and intermediate cognitive and motivational learning outcomes will be analyzed in the context of a quasi-experimental field study with a pre-post-follow-up design.. The four main research questions relate to the effects of the different types of prompts on (a) learning processes, (b) learning outcomes, (c) relationships between process and outcome variables, and (d) the potentially moderating effect of learners' cognitive and motivational characteristics depending on different types of prompts. On the cognitive side, the process variables to be investigated are students’ learning behaviour i.e. engagement level, in terms of the learners’ interaction with exhibits and classmates. On the motivational side, the study examined students’ perceived content relevance, their basic needs and their situational interest. The outcome variables investigated are knowledge change and motivation.The study aims to simultaneously examine the cognitive and motivational learning processes and the learning outcomes as well as their reciprocal relationships. It also aims to provide differentiated insights into the effect of instructional support methods while taking into account the specific characteristics of the learning environment museum. By analyzing the above-mentioned objectives, the planned study can significantly expand the current state of research on museum learning in the context of school field trips. As applied basic research, the study can contribute to a better understanding of cognitive and motivational characteristics of students’ self-regulated learning processes and how to effectively support self-regulated learning in informal contexts such as museums.