AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
SELF-REGULATION OF LEARNING IN THE NATURAL SCIENCE OF FUTURE TEACHERS
a
EVA SEVERINI,
b
MÁRIA KOŽUCHOVÁ,
c
MARTIN
KURUC,
d
DUŠAN KOSTRUB
Faculty of Education of Comenius University in Bratislava
Račianska 59, 813 34 Bratislava, Slovakia
e-mail:
ͣseverini@fedu.uniba.sk, ᵇkozuchova@fedu.uniba.sk,
ͨkuruc@fedu.uniba.sk, ͩkostrub@fedu.uniba.sk.
Processed within the project VEGA 1/0443/18 Analysis of self-regulatory learning
styles of students in the field of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy.
Abstract: In this article, we present the results and interpretations of our research, the
aim of which was to create a certain picture of how the preparation is set, but also the
motivation of students in the programs of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy for
science subjects. We focused on the area of self-regulation of learning and motivation
for science education for future teachers. We start from the methodological approach
rooted in the theory of self-determination. We consider the most important finding to
be the positive motivation of students for science. Within science subjects we see an
opportunity to use the student's portfolio as a means of his trajectory of development
and self-regulation of learning.
Keywords: future teachers, motivation, natural sciences, self-regulation of learning.
1 Introduction
Learning about nature has been an essential part of education for
many years. The aim of science education at all types and levels
of schools is to develop science literacy. We identify with
Roberts (2007) and Svobodová (2013) who include in science
literacy the knowledge and skills that an individual needs to
understand the natural influences on his life, to be able to explain
the basic natural phenomena in his environment, to know terms,
laws and methods of natural sciences, to be able to work with
graphs, tables, diagrams, maps and finally to be able to form his
own judgment about the credibility of knowledge. It is a lifelong
process, not just learning at school. In this context, Janoušková,
Novák and Maršák (2008, p. 129) state that "the issue of science
education is currently given unusually high attention in the field
of pedagogical research and practical educational policy in the
states of the European Union." However, the teaching of science
subjects in primary schools has been going through a stage of
some search for identity for some time (Škoda, 2005). An
important moment is the active and scholastic character of
teaching, which allows students to gain a deeper understanding
of the laws of natural processes. To create competencies in
students that develop the ability, based on the observation of
natural phenomena, objects and experimental activities, can
evaluate and create theories (Píšová et al., 2011). Science
education is currently an integral part of a comprehensive
teaching process. This education begins in children before
entering primary school. They get acquainted with their
immediate environment, surroundings, nature, they observe,
create ideas. They form a relationship with people and the
environment which they live in. Children's attention is focused
on exploring current ideas about objects, phenomena and
situations. Part of the development of science literacy is the
development of specific skills that give the child tools to orient
himself in new cognitive situations, help him systematize
experience and create meaningful knowledge about the
functioning of the world (Uhrinová, 2019).
In the field of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy, it is
primarily a matter of preparing students for the profession of
pre-primary and primary education teachers. Study programs in
the field of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy in Slovakia are
implemented at the pedagogical faculties of seven Slovak
universities in Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Komárno, Ružomberok,
Banská Bystrica and Prešov. Within the department, bachelor's
study programs are mostly implemented for the preparation of
kindergarten teachers and educators of children's school clubs,
which are followed by the master's study programs Teaching for
Primary Education. (Rochovská, 2012).
The university training of future teachers of kindergartens and
primary degree of elementary schools with a focus on science
education contains three components: vocational; pedagogical-
psychological and didactic. Graduates are expected to have a
thorough understanding of professional issues, the ability to
make knowledge available to target groups, organize, monitor
and evaluate educational activities. Although faculties strive to
incorporate current scientific knowledge and current teaching
approaches into the training of future teachers, to follow constant
developments in science, pedagogy, psychology and to reflect on
changes in the education system, the teaching profession requires
constant supplementation and expansion of knowledge and
skills. The professional personality of a teacher is the result of
his own efforts to become a teacher, but at the same time it is
formed already during undergraduate training, in which the
future teacher begins to form his intuitive concept of teaching
and also motivation for the teaching profession. It is therefore
necessary to pay more attention to the area of motivation. At
present, the role of the university teacher is fundamentally
changing, which should mainly support the self-regulation of
learning, but also stimulate students to acquire the meanings of
technical terms and understand the context in science education.
Scientists, as well as practitioners, are currently wondering how
a particular way of thinking creates space for a specific form of
freedom and independence based on
student-teacher
relationships. The personal responsibility and self-sufficiency of
the individual (student and teacher) is emphasized. On the other
hand, the newly conceived freedoms oblige the subject (student
and teacher) to inform about the various possibilities in order to
make the best possible investment in one's own future and the
future of society on the basis of active social integration. Social-
constructive exchanges and interactions among students, joint
problem solving and partnership - positive teacher interventions
support the student's self-regulation of learning. This supports a
quality learning process and the learning of others (better quality
of communication between teachers and students and between
them, gaining lasting and valid knowledge for society, as well as
intellectual independence), etc. The process of self-regulatory
learning is not based on "memory training", but on developing
the ability to distinguish and think, more precisely the ability to
ask questions and solve learning problems. Self-regulatory
learning is based on taking an active attitude of the student,
which is maintained by a didactically thought-out, deliberate
strategy of the teacher. This strategy evokes the process of socio-
constitution of knowledge and the emergence of the student's
competencies regarding the goals, topic, content / curriculum,
based on the application of transformative and supportive
components.
In order for the goals of self-regulatory learning to be achieved,
it is necessary for students to have a learning strategy at their
disposal and the teacher to have a strategy for his teaching in
order to meet his goals. Conditions for the construction,
development and application of a didactic strategy that supports
the self-regulation of learning, an emerging conglomerate of
competencies and the acquired complex of knowledge of
students in the field of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy in
Science Education represents:
•
Consciously reflect the importance of the problems that
will be presented to students, but especially reflect on the
possible solutions in the internal dialogue of students.
•
Situate the learning context, something that may be
innovative on the one hand, but may not be on the other.
•
Consider the creativity of the teacher as a constitutive
element of maintaining a focus on the conscious
development of students.
•
Construct an appropriate learning environment based on
adequate didactic situations, sequences, but in advance and
in time it is necessary to visualize together with students
learning scenarios in their design.
Postmodern thinking knows different forms of life, different
aspects of reality. There is no longer only one and only absolute
truth, which is predetermined, and therefore it is important that
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