
Projects
Collaborative scholarship in assessment, evaluation, and knowledge mobilization
Learning to Love Learning: Taking Control, Responsibility, and Pride through Self-Regulated Learning and Assessment
What is this study about?
The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers can promote self-regulated learning in elementary classrooms (grades K, 2, 4, and 6). Specifically, this research will illuminate the role of formative assessment practices in supporting self-regulated learning in primary and junior education across two diverse learning cultures: Canada and China.
Why is this study important?
Self-regulated learning, a multidimensional process in which learners manage their learning in pursuit of goals, is increasingly identified as an essential educational outcome needed to prepare learners to address global crises (e.g., climate change, social inequalities). With teachers being called on to foster self-regulated learners internationally, research is needed to inform pedagogical approaches that support self-regulated learning. Formative assessment, which includes practices that inform teacher instruction and student learning (e.g., strategic questioning, observation, feedback, peer and self-assessment), has been identified as a particularly promising pedagogy for supporting self-regulated learning.
However, how formative assessment can facilitate self-regulated learning is understudied in elementary education, a crucial stage for students’ development of self-regulated learning skills. Additionally, since assessment and learning are understood differently across cultures, cross-cultural perspectives are needed to support approaches that are effective across education contexts. This research will culminate in a novel theory of the relationship between formative assessment and self-regulated learning in elementary education, informed by survey, interview, and classroom observation data collected in Canada and China to advance self-regulated learning across cultures.
​
This research is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
​
Project Timeline
YEARS 1-2
What are the contextual
factors of SRL and assessment that lead to students to take control, responsibility, and pride in their learning?
Cross-cultural systematic literature review on the connection between formative assessment and SRL in primary education.
​
Observation in grades K, 2, 4, and 6 in Canada and China.
YEARS 3-4
How do students in kindergarten, grade 2, 4, and 6, and their parents conduct and perceive SRL and assessment?
Questionnaires with students in grades K, 2, 4, and 6 in Canada and China and their parents and teachers.
YEAR 5
How does assessment
support SRL in students to take control, responsibility, and pride in their learning?
Synthesizing data from years 1-4 to build a model of SRL and formative assessment across learning cultures.
Research Team

Jia Guo
PhD Candidate
Queen's University

Taylor Wormington
PhD Student
Queen's University

Yiqin Ji
Research Assistant
Queen's University