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How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology

In college introductory science courses, students are challenged with mastering large amounts of disciplinary content while developing as autonomous and effective learners. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is the process of setting learning goals, monitoring progress toward them, and applying appropria...

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Autores principales: Sebesta, Amanda J., Bray Speth, Elena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459248/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28495934
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-09-0269
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author Sebesta, Amanda J.
Bray Speth, Elena
author_facet Sebesta, Amanda J.
Bray Speth, Elena
author_sort Sebesta, Amanda J.
collection PubMed
description In college introductory science courses, students are challenged with mastering large amounts of disciplinary content while developing as autonomous and effective learners. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is the process of setting learning goals, monitoring progress toward them, and applying appropriate study strategies. SRL characterizes successful, “expert” learners, and develops with time and practice. In a large, undergraduate introductory biology course, we investigated: 1) what SRL strategies students reported using the most when studying for exams, 2) which strategies were associated with higher achievement and with grade improvement on exams, and 3) what study approaches students proposed to use for future exams. Higher-achieving students, and students whose exam grades improved in the first half of the semester, reported using specific cognitive and metacognitive strategies significantly more frequently than their lower-achieving peers. Lower-achieving students more frequently reported that they did not implement their planned strategies or, if they did, still did not improve their outcomes. These results suggest that many students entering introductory biology have limited knowledge of SRL strategies and/or limited ability to implement them, which can impact their achievement. Course-specific interventions that promote SRL development should be considered as integral pedagogical tools, aimed at fostering development of students’ lifelong learning skills.
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spelling pubmed-54592482017-06-12 How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology Sebesta, Amanda J. Bray Speth, Elena CBE Life Sci Educ Article In college introductory science courses, students are challenged with mastering large amounts of disciplinary content while developing as autonomous and effective learners. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is the process of setting learning goals, monitoring progress toward them, and applying appropriate study strategies. SRL characterizes successful, “expert” learners, and develops with time and practice. In a large, undergraduate introductory biology course, we investigated: 1) what SRL strategies students reported using the most when studying for exams, 2) which strategies were associated with higher achievement and with grade improvement on exams, and 3) what study approaches students proposed to use for future exams. Higher-achieving students, and students whose exam grades improved in the first half of the semester, reported using specific cognitive and metacognitive strategies significantly more frequently than their lower-achieving peers. Lower-achieving students more frequently reported that they did not implement their planned strategies or, if they did, still did not improve their outcomes. These results suggest that many students entering introductory biology have limited knowledge of SRL strategies and/or limited ability to implement them, which can impact their achievement. Course-specific interventions that promote SRL development should be considered as integral pedagogical tools, aimed at fostering development of students’ lifelong learning skills. American Society for Cell Biology 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5459248/ /pubmed/28495934 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-09-0269 Text en © 2017 A. J. Sebesta and E. Bray Speth. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Article
Sebesta, Amanda J.
Bray Speth, Elena
How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title_full How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title_fullStr How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title_full_unstemmed How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title_short How Should I Study for the Exam? Self-Regulated Learning Strategies and Achievement in Introductory Biology
title_sort how should i study for the exam? self-regulated learning strategies and achievement in introductory biology
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459248/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28495934
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-09-0269
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