Shaping self‐regulation in science teachers' professional growth: Inquiry skills

Abstract

Abstract This study examined 188 preservice science teachers' professional growth along three dimensions—self‐regulated learning (SRL) in a science pedagogical context, pedagogical content knowledge, and self‐efficacy in teaching science—comparing four learner‐centered, active‐learning, peer‐collaborative environments for learning to teach higher order scientific‐inquiry thinking. Three environments supported different SRL components using the “IMPROVE'' self‐regulatory model: cognitive–metacognitive alone (CogMet), motivational alone (Mot), or all three components (CogMetMot). The fourth environment provided no SRL support. Findings indicated that preservice teachers in the three SRL‐scaffolding conditions outperformed their unscaffolded peers on all professional growth measures: SRL (cognition, metacognition, motivation), pedagogical knowledge (declarative, procedural, conditional), and self‐efficacy in teaching science. Moreover, the CogMetMot group exhibited the highest scores on all measures. Implications concern SRL scaffolding to enhance preservice science teachers' professional growth. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 96: 1106–1133, 2012