Doctoral Research
Self-Regulated Learning in Middle School Science
Examining the impact of an SRL intervention on student achievement in 8th-grade astronomy
This quasi-experimental study examined whether explicit self-regulated learning supports could improve student achievement in middle school science. The six-week intervention was implemented across multiple 8th-grade astronomy classes and compared student outcomes between treatment and comparison groups.
289 Students
3 Teachers
10 Class Sections
6 Weeks
Research Purpose
Self-regulated learning involves students actively planning, monitoring, and adjusting their learning. While SRL has been studied extensively, this study focused on how explicit SRL supports could function within an authentic middle school science classroom.
The purpose of the study was to examine whether integrating self-regulated learning strategies into an existing 8th-grade astronomy unit could improve student science achievement while remaining practical for classroom implementation.
Study Context
289 eighth-grade students across 10 class sections taught by three science teachers.
Intervention
Students in the treatment condition received explicit SRL supports integrated into the six-week astronomy unit, while comparison classes received the existing instruction.
Treatment Group:
148 students
Comparison Group:
141 students
Treatment Score Gain:
7.68
Comparison Score Gain:
5.68
Effect Size
d = 0.43
Additional Findings
Treatment Mean Posttest Score:
19.52
Comparison Mean Posttest Score:
17.15
Significant treatment effects were also observed in several individual astronomy content areas, including seasons, the solar system, and gravity.
Effect Size
d = 0.44
From Research to Practice
The intervention was designed to fit within normal classroom instruction rather than function as a separate program. The findings suggest that explicitly supporting students in planning, monitoring, and reflecting on their learning can improve science achievement while remaining practical for classroom use.
Following the study, the science department adopted the self-regulated learning approach more broadly, including expansion into 7th-grade science.
Research → Classroom Implementation → Department Adoption
Dissertation & Related Materials
This study was completed as doctoral research at the University of San Francisco. The full dissertation is available through the university’s institutional repository.