This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0016986209334961v1 53/3/203    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Yoon, C.-H. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Self-Regulated Learning and Instructional Factors in the Scientific Inquiry of Scientifically Gifted Korean Middle School Students

Chosun University, chyoon{at}chosun.ac.kr

This correlational study investigated the direct and indirect effects of instructional factors and motivational and cognitive components of self-regulated learning on scientific inquiry performance in a sample of scientifically gifted middle school students. A total of 166 students were selected from nine gifted classes in the public school system with after-school enrichment programs in Korea. Students responded to self-report measures of mastery-oriented learning goals, self-efficacy, self-regulatory strategy use, and inquiry activities in science class. Performance data were obtained from work on a scientific inquiry task. Results of a path analysis revealed that students' self-efficacy and perceived degree of inquiry activities in science class were the only factors directly influencing their scientific inquiry skills. Whereas open inquiry learning that allows for choices and decisions in students' inquiry procedure directly influenced use of self-regulatory strategies, the extent of inquiry activities directly influenced self-efficacy. Self-regulatory strategy use was not a significant predictor for scientific inquiry skills. Based on the results, implications for future science gifted education are discussed.

Putting the Research to Use: This study, by incorporating instructional factors in the framework of self-regulated learning of gifted students, extended the previous research that had examined the relationships among the components of self-regulated learning in relation to achievement. Also, it explored such relationships in a much less studied area, science, and extended the scope of science achievement by including scientific inquiry skills as a criterion of academic performance. In general, it reveals that inquiry learning increases gifted students' scientific inquiry skills while open inquiry does not contribute much to this process and that the only learner characteristic influencing scientific inquiry skills is self-efficacy. For educators working with scientifically gifted students, this study urges them to plan open inquiry learning more systematically and make it accessible to students, by providing assistance and guidance with the inquiry process at the outset of learning and increasingly incorporating the open nature of inquiry. Motivational beliefs of gifted students in their abilities also need to be encouraged and fostered in the classroom.

Key Words: self-regulated learning • scientific inquiry • the scientifically gifted

This version was published on July 1, 2009

Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 3, 203-216 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0016986209334961


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?