Self Regulation Instruction, Science Achievement and Self Efficacy

The purpose of the present study is twofold: first, to investigate the impact of selfregulation training on self-efficacy of science, self-regulation skills and science achievement, and second to determine the relations among self-regulation, self-efficacy of science and science achievement. Pre-test / post-test experimental design with control group was utilized for the experimental part and survey design for the descriptive part of the research. The experimental part of the research was carried out in two different 6th year groups of a low socio-economic status school, (in the second semester of 2005-2006 academic year), Self-regulation training program developed and tested by the researcher has been used in a randomly chosen experimental group (n= 44), traditional teaching methods in control group (n= 44), for 14 weeks. The descriptive part of the research was conducted on 6th grade students (n= 594), attending several schools of various socio-economic status. Data of the research was gathered by achievement tests, Scale of Self-Regulation, Scale of Self-Efficacy of Science, reflection notebooks and semestrial notes. Mean, Standard Deviation, Two-Way ANOVA for Mixed Measures, One-Way ANOVA, Scheffé Test, Bonferroni, Test of between Subject Contrast, Pearson Correlation were employed to analyze the data. The results of the experimental part of the research indicate that self-regulation training has positive effects on achievement, retention and on some factors of self-regulation and self-efficacy of science. The effects of the program on students, differing in capacity of reflection, were also examined. The results obtained from the descriptive part of the research show significant positive correlations among all of the three variables (self-regulation, science achievement, self-efficacy of science). Key Words: Self-regulation, Self-efficacy, Science Achievement, Reflection, Retention