Students’ self-regulated learning strategies and science achievement: exploring the moderating effect of learners’ emotional skills

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to underline the importance of school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) by exploring the relationship between self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and science achievement with a moderator of students’ emotional skills. In previous studies, SEL scholars have paid attention to explaining the complicated relationships among the social, emotional, and cognitive development of school-aged children. Based on the SEL framework, this study investigated the moderating effect of emotional skills on students’ SRL strategies and science achievement with 79 sixth-grade students in South Korea. Students’ emotional regulation was a significant moderator of all the subfactors in SRL and science performance. Notably, motivational beliefs in SRL strategies are linked to higher science achievement. The findings support the idea of a SEL approach that posits that social and emotional variables are related to students’ science achievement, which invites the consideration of how these emotional skills can assist students to become better prepared learners.