Date of Graduation

Winter 12-11-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Department

Learning and Instruction

Program

Learning & Instruction EdD

First Advisor

Xornam Apedoe

Second Advisor

Mathew Mitchell

Third Advisor

Seenae Chong

Abstract

Student success in science courses is a critical focus for K–12 educators, particularly during the transition period of middle-school, where students face increasing academic and social demands. Self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies have been shown to enhance academic outcomes by fostering independent learning and metacognitive awareness. However, research on the implementation and effectiveness of SRL interventions in middle school science classrooms, particularly within the constraints of public school settings, remains limited.

This study investigated the effects of an SRL intervention on the academic achievement of eighth-grade students during a six-week astronomy unit. Students from a public middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area region of northern California participated in the study, with intact class sections assigned to either a treatment or control group. The intervention included an initial 45-minute SRL training session, embedded SRL prompts within assignments, visual reminders displayed in classrooms, and teacher-led oral prompts. Academic achievement was assessed using a pretest-posttest design aligned with the astronomy curriculum.

Findings revealed that students in the SRL treatment condition demonstrated significantly greater academic gains than students in the control condition. These results indicate that simple and low-cost SRL supports can generate meaningful improvements in student learning when integrated into regular instruction. The implications of these findings suggest that SRL can be feasibly implemented in middle school classrooms without requiring extensive retraining or curricular overhaul. Teachers can easily incorporate goal-setting, monitoring, and reflection prompts to foster autonomy and persistence while administrators can support these practices through professional development focused on strategic learning behaviors. At the policy level, these results support continued investment in classroom embedded interventions that strengthen students self-regulation skills alongside academic content. . The findings contribute to contribute to the growing body of research on SRL, offering evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes in middle school science education and fostering lifelong learning skills.

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