Preservice Teachers’ Professional Vision for and Capacity to Teach Self-Regulated Learning: Effects of Scaffolding Level

Abstract

Background Self-regulation in learning (SRL) represents a major topic in educational research. Nevertheless, there remains a gap in the research concerning how teachers can incorporate SRL into the classroom. This study focuses on the Professional Vision for SRL (PfS) method, which aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice so that teachers can teach SRL and students can acquire SRL skills. Purpose The goal of the present study was to examine the impact of different scaffolding levels on the development of preservice teachers’ professional vision (PV) for SRL and their ability to teach SRL to students. Participants: Participants were 102 second-year preservice physics teachers at three major research universities. Research Design The study included three distinct PV scaffolding levels, in order to examine which types of PV prompts might best scaffold teachers’ progress in mapping and teaching SRL. These prompts included hints for when (time range) to analyze videotaped complex SRL-teaching events, full guidance (popup notifications) for when and what to analyze, and self-guidance (controls) for analyzing without help. Data Collection and Analysis I addressed the research questions and hypotheses by performing a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), with posttest performance as the dependent variable and PV prompt type as the independent variable. Findings Results showed that over time, all three groups improved on measures of both PV for SRL and SRL teaching. Additionally, we found that hint prompts had a greater positive effect on both measures than guided or self-guided prompts. Recommendations The current study recommends broadening the instructional framework of teacher education programs to include PV hints instruction as a means of supporting the practical skills necessary for teaching in dynamic school contexts.