Developing Self-Regulated Learners

Abstract

An important characteristic of human beings is our ability to understand and regulate our own behavior. Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have long viewed self-control as a distinguishing characteristic of the human species, and for a variety of religious, political, philosophical, and practical reasons, the call to personally cultivate self-understanding and self-control has been sounded repeatedly throughout the ages The philosopher Aristotle, for instance, praised the virtues of self-awareness. Likewise, the notable American statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin was a staunch proponent of self-regulation. He used an assortment of self-regulation procedures in his own struggles for self-improvement. At one point during his life, he defined 13 virtues (e.g., temperance, order) that he wished to develop, established the goal of increasing each virtue in tum during the space of a week, monitored instances of success and failure, and recorded the daily results. If, at the end of the week, no offenses were recorded against the virtue, he extended his goal to include the next virtue listed ( cf.