Some Components of Self-Regulation in Learning Mathematics among Students of the Faculty of Education in Sombor

• Main Authors: Maja S. Zobenica, Ljubica M. Oparnica
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Belgrade, Teacher Education Faculty 2018-07-01
• Series: Inovacije u Nastavi
• Subjects: motivation; resource management strategies; self-regulation of learning; mathematics.
• Online Access: http://www.inovacijeunastavi.rs/en/31-1-7en/

Self-regulation is one of the key competences for the lifelong learning. Motivation and resource management strategies are the non-cognitive components of self-regulation. The aim of the paper was to examine the relationship between the two components in learning mathematics among the students of the Faculty of Education in Sombor. The research sample consisted of students of the following study programmes: primary school teachers, preschool teachers, librarians, and designers of the media in education (N = 118). For the purpose of this research, the motivation scale and the scale of the resource management strategies were adapted from the questionnaire MSLQ (Pintrich et.al., 1993). The research results show that there is a weak correlation between motivation and resource management strategies in learning mathematics and that there is a significant difference in students’ motivation relative to the academic study programmes. Future preschool teachers are less motivated to learn mathematics than students enrolled at other academic programmes. They exhibit a lower level of intrinsic motivation, value the subject of mathematics less than others, have weaker control of their beliefs about learning mathematics, and they are less successful in self-evaluation. It is necessary to examine whether the implementation of math problems used in practice, within each area covered in the university math classes, would contribute to the increased motivation among the future preschool teachers. Students with a well-developed self-regulation are likely to invest more in the quality of teaching and professional development.