Self-regulation in the Learning of Natural Sciences in Basic Secondary Educational Institutions

Abstract

This article shows the research results of a doctoral thesis entitled Metacognitive Program for Strengthening Self-regulation in the Learning of Natural Sciences in Basic Secondary Educational Institutions of the Ciénaga de Oro municipality, Córdoba, Colombia. Its purpose was to explain how the aforementioned program will be inserted into the educational process, for self-regulation in the learning of natural sciences. It was based on the postulates of Ayala (2013), Bohórquez (2020), Medel et al. (2016), González, C. (2014), among others. It represents an intellectual production framed in the interpretive paradigm with a design adjusted to the tradition of phenomenological studies and documentary hermeneutics. Observation, documentary analysis and focus group interviews were applied as techniques for collecting information. The premise formulated at the beginning of the study was confirmed by determining that in the self-regulation of natural science learning in educational institutions of the Ciénaga de Oro municipality; Department of Córdoba–Colombia, cognitive, motivational and monitoring aspects intervene. On average, more than 60% of the items analyzed in relation to the topic, in the institutions studied, need to be consolidated or strengthened. Information entry (67%) and knowledge products (76%) were positioned as the aspects with the greatest demand for strengthening. Among the factors influencing the weakness of the aforementioned processes, a lack of mediation stands out, expressed in the lack of self-awareness, absence of motivation and little self-reflection on the part of the students. The aspects indicated in the theoretical trends on metacognition and self-regulation coincide with the perception of experts in order to the elements that must be considered when formulating a program of metacognitive strategies to strengthen the processing of information and its incorporation into the system of representations. mentality of the students.