Using Intentional Conceptual Change to enhance Self-regulated learning for Academic Performance

     Working with students often labeled as 'lazy,' 'unmotivated,' and/or 'learned helplesss,'  two things have become evident for me... One, students do not want to fail, but in the face of constant difficulty they 'give up.' And two, if a history of failure exists it is accompanied with the self-theory of "I'm  'dumb' and no amount of effort will change the inevitable failure I experience."  If you ask any teacher about student who seem unmotivated or exhibit 'learned helplessness' behaviors they will speak volumes about how difficult it is to work with these students.  These are the unprepared students. The ones whose homework is either missing or incomplete, whose projects show minimal effort, and who often attribute their failure to the difficulty of the task rather than on their own lack of effort.  Assisting these students is frustrating work because they often possess a set of beliefs about learning and themselves as learners that demand time and effort a classroom teacher cannot afford.

     What does it take to turn these kids around? I've discovered a 4 step plan targeted at helping them find their motivation for learning...Research on self-regulated learning for academic performance offers several aspects of a learner's profile to examine and is included in the plan: self-efficacy, motivation resources, goal setting, and self-reflection/evaluation. However, before starting the arduous process of changing established learning behaviors, one has to help students understand who they are as learners and what they believe learning entails. Intentional conceptual change is a fairly new concept that emphasizes direct instruction for helping students recognize and change the reasons they give for their failures. The beliefs students hold about their ability and their conception of intelligence as either fixed (can't change how smart you are) or malleable (intelligence is constructed and learned) frames their goal orientation which shapes learning behavior patterns that may or may not be beneficial. In other words, the reasons they give for their performance matters! If a student puts the blame for a bad grade on the teacher, their ability or the difficulty of the task, they will take no ownership because they do not think they are in control. Conversely, a student who attributes failure to lack of effort, a controllable factor, is more likely to make the necessary adjustments to avoid failure in the future.

     The plan that has worked for me when helping students find and sustain motivation includes helping students to: 1) compare prior learning behaviors to performance outcomes in order to identify the adaptive behaviors they should keep and maladaptive behaviors they should discard; 2) helping students to set specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals that motivate them to keep working in the face of difficulties;  3) helping students to establish a monitoring systems to sustain learning behaviors toward the goals, and finally 4) helping students to self-reflect on the progress and if necessary revise goal and/or learning strategies.

The program is simple, but is initially time consuming. It begins with a metacognitive activity to learn who they are as learners (their implicit theories about intelligence) and what it takes to learn.

Figure 1: Understanding how beliefs about learning shape learning behaviors

Step 1) Revising beliefs about how they got to where they are: a survey and interview design.
In a one-to-one interview students discuss successful school performance and unsuccessful school performance with a focus on the learning behaviors that contributed to previous success (ability, effort, study strategies, teacher, easy subject) or unsuccessful (lack of ability, homework, help-seeking, etc.)   performance. The survey (figure 1 formsite.com) is an effective way to gather information for the one-to one interview.This information is helpful in formulating the goals in step two of the program: setting goal.

Figure 2: Setting goals

Step 2) Goal setting allows students to recognize and be cognizant of learning behaviors and is crucial in helping students become self-regulated learners, adaptive, persistent and cognizant of their learning. Goals help keep students motivated with a tangible understanding of what the day-to-day effort will yield in the long term. The learning goals set will  direct the learning patterns during class time, homework time, study time. Two types of goals direct learning behaviors: performance and mastery goals. Both goals are valid and can yield positive results. However, research shows that students who value the 'grade' over 'learning' are less likely to persist in the face of difficulty. Performance goal oriented students with a low assessment of their ability  display low effort, weak learning strategies, low motivation, and are generally the low achievers (Dweck & Leggett, 1998).  Step two in the Intentional conceptual change program is to set a long term goal for academic success (the grade desired) with two or more mastery goals (proximal goals) that can be used to monitor attainment of the 'long-term goal.'  (figure 2)

     Step 3) Monitoring the progress toward attainment of the 'performance goal' (the grade) using mastery goals (improving ability) is important in ensuring students stay motivated. The use of agendas and 'check-ins' has proven invaluable in helping students sustain motivation. Organizational tools such as agendas or electronic diaries help students keep track of tasks and make positive time-management decisions. Feedback in this step is important!  I use an electronic diary along with student agendas to help them plan out their week.  Recognizing patterns in one's approach is essential for implementing Step 4.
   
     In step 4, students evaluate their performance. They keep the strategies that are working and change those that are not. Essential in this step is the ability to effectively assess the academic behaviors that produced success or failures. Here is where the student compares the effort to the goal set in step 1.

     The research in Self-regulated learning supports this approach (Zimmerman 2000). When students set goals and use them to gauge their progress they are taking a more agentic role in their learning. Self-regulated learners are proactive, self-directed, and self-determined.