Effect of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies on Students' Achievement in Science: A Meta-Analysis

Self-regulated learning (SRL) studies have been widely researched, but there have been insufficient meta-analytical studies concerning the effects of self-regulated learning and achievement in science. This research, therefore, sought to perform a meta-analysis on the effects of self-regulated learning strategies on the achievement of students in science subjects. The study covered 22 studies from the year 2000 to 2019 which involved 7,258 sample sizes and a total of 63 effect sizes. The overall mean effect was 12 (high effect). The findings revealed self-assessment strategies had a high impact on students' achievement in science subjects. Metacognitive strategy can affect students' achievement in chemistry (es=1.82), physics (es=0.43), and science (es=0.88). On the other hand, behavioural strategy was found to be an important strategy for biology (es=0.45). The moderating effect of school level variable had a high impact (es=0.63) in all four science subjects compared to university/college level variable (es=0.33). Further studies should be conducted to examine the findings on SRL learning strategies in relation to i) combination of cognitive and metacognitive strategies for physics, science, and chemistry, and ii) behavioural strategies for biology.