Self-Regulated Learning Pedagogy and its Effect on Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Mechanics

The disruption of education in South Cotabato forced Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges (RMMC) to adopt a limited face-to-face learning setup, significantly altering science education. The November 2023 earthquake intensified these challenges, raising urgent concerns about how reduced in-person instruction affects students' mastery of scientific concepts and critical thinking skills. This study explored the effects of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) on the critical thinking skills of freshman science students in Mechanics at Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges (RMMC), Southcentral Mindanao. The study was driven by the need to address challenges in science education due to reduced face-to-face interactions caused by natural calamities. Anchored in Zimmerman’s Self-Directed Learning Theory and the Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) framework, the study examined how SRL strategies enhance students’ abilities to analyze, evaluate, and solve problems. Using an experimental design, the study compared conventional teaching with SRL pedagogy among the all the freshmen BSED Science students, with pretest results used to assign them to control and experimental groups. Mean, standard deviation, and t-tests determined critical thinking levels and learning gains. The findings indicate that both the control and experimental groups showed improvement in critical thinking skills, with overall mean scores increasing from 5.38 to 7.75 and 5.48 to 7.82, respectively. Additionally, freshmen BSED Science students demonstrated proficiency in self-regulated learning with an over-all mean of 20.54, but its effectiveness varied across physics topics, highlighting its domain-specific nature. Meanwhile, the independent samples t-test revealed no statistically significant difference between the post-test scores of the control group (Mean = 31.00) and the experimental group (Mean = 31.29), as indicated by a t-value of -0.093 and a p-value of 0.927, suggesting that external variables may have influenced the results. These findings confirm that SRL pedagogy is a viable alternative to traditional instruction in tertiary-level Mechanics. As education evolves, SRL presents a promising avenue for fostering independent, critical thinkers.