Self-Regulated Learning and Mathematical Problem Solving

The aim of this research is to study high-school pupils’ (9th–11th grades, 14/15 to 17/18 years old) self-regulated learning skills. The tool of the research is a questionnaire developed for this purpose; the research sample is a group of randomly selected high-school pupils from schools over the north-west part of Romania. The results show that only one third of the respondents think that mathematics is useful in everyday life and their future career; a very low percentage of the pupils set goals for learning mathematics; about a quarter of the respondents analyze correctly the task and have a correct task difficulty perception; the pupils’ self-efficacy and self-control is low, but they have a high self-judgement level. Most of the pupils are aware that there is a strong relation between the time they spend with mathematics and their results. There is a strong correlation between the pupils’ mathematical results and their interest to study mathematics, their task analysis and self-control skills, and their task difficulty perception.

REFERENCES:

• Ames, C. (1992). Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 261–271.
• Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248–287.
• Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company.
• Borkowski, J. G; Weyhing, R.S. & Turner, J. (1986). Attributional retraining and the teaching strategies, Exceptional Children, 53, 130–137.
• Dickinson, D.J. & Butt, J.A. (1989). The Effects of Success and Failure on the OnTask Behavior of High Achieving Students, Education and Treatment of Children, 12(3), 243–252.
• Hagen, A.S. & Weinstein, C.E. (1995). Achievement goals, self-regulated learning, and the role of classroom context. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 63, 43–55.
• Higgins, K.M. (1997). The effect of year-long instruction in mathematical problem solving on middle-school students’ attitudes, beliefs, and abilities. Journal of Experimental Education, 66(1), 5–29.
• Hoffman, B. (2010). “I think I can, but I’m afraid to try”: The role of self-efficacy beliefs and mathematics anxiety in mathematics problem-solving efficiency, Learning and Individual Differences, 20(3), 276–283
• Leader, L.F. & Middleton, J.A. (2004). Promoting critical-thinking dispositions by using problem solving in middle school mathematics. Research in Middle Level Education, 28(1), 55–71.
• Lester, F.K. ; Garofalo, J. & Kroll, D.L. (1989). The role metacognition in mathematical problem solving: A study of two grade seven classes (Final report, NSF project MDR 85–5046). Bloomington: Indiana University, mathematics Education Development Center.
• Malpass, J.R. , O’Neil, H.F. Jr. & Dennis Hocevar, D. (1999). Self-Regulation, Goal Orientation, Self-Efficacy, Worry, and High-Stakes Math Achievement for Mathematically Giffed High School Students, Roeper Review, May, 1999.
• Marchis, I. (2009). Comparative analysis of the mathematics problems given at international tests and at the Romanian national tests, Acta Didactica Napocensia, 2(2), 141–148.
• Marchis, I. (2010). Text comprehension and problem solving. Paper presented at the 2nd Baltic Sea Conference/15th Nordic Reading Conference hosted by FinRA in Turku/Åbo Finland 11−13 August 2010
• Marchis, I. & Balogh, T. (2010). Secondary school pupils’ self-regulated learning skills, Acta Didactica Napocensia, 3(3), 147–152.
• Pintrich, P.R. (1995). Understanding self-regulated learning. In: Pintrich. P. (ed.), Understanding self-regulated learning (pp. 3–13). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc.
• Pintrich, P.R. (2000). The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. In: Boecaerts, M. ; Pintrich, P.R. ; Zeidner, M. (eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 451–502). San Diego: Academic Press.
• Pintrich, P.R. ; Smith, D. ; Garcia, T. ; McKeachie, W (1993). Predictive validity and reliability of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 53, 801–813.
• Pólya, G. (1945). How to Solve It. Princeton University Press
• Ridlon, C.L. (2004). The effect of a problem centered approach on low achieving six graders. Focus on learning problems in mathematics, 28(4), 6–29.
• Schoenfeld, A.H. (1985). Mathematical problem-solving. New York: Academic Press.
• Schunk, D.H. (1991). Self-efficacy and academic motivation. Educational Psychologist, 26, 207–231.
• Tanner, H. & Jones, S. (2003). Self Efficacy in Mathematics and Students’ Use of Self Regulated Learning Strategies During Assessment Events. In: Pateman, N.A. ; Doherty, B.J. & Zilliox, J. (eds), Proceedings of the 27th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (volume 4, pp. 275–282). Honolulu, USA: PME.
• Wolf, L.F. & Smith, J.K. (1995). The consequence of consequence: Motivation, anxiety and test performance, Applied Measurement in Education, 8, 227–242.
• Zimmerman, B.J. (1998). Developing self-fulfilling cycles of academic regulation: an analysis of exemplary instructional models. In: Schunk, D.H. & Zimmerman, B.J. (eds.), Self-regulated learning: from teaching to self-reflected practice (pp. 1–19). New York: Guilford Press.
• Zimmerman, B.J. (2000). Attaining self-regulation: A social cognitive perspective. In: Boekaerts, M. ; Pintrich, P. & Ziedner, M. (eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 13–39). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
• Zimmerman, B.J. (2001). Theories of self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview and analysis. In: Zimmerman, B.J. & Schunk, D.H. (eds). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 1–39). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Zimmerman, B.J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 64–70.