ABSTRACT
The aim of this field study was to examine the role of socioeconomic status (SES) on the effectiveness of self-regulation training. Eight hundred and sixty five ten-year-old students either learned how to conduct experiments in a self-regulated manner (experimental group) or attended regular class lessons (control group). In a first step, we tested the training effects on the students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) competencies and cognitive load. Based on the existing literature, we also tested for a Matthew effect: students with high SES should benefit more from self-regulation training than students with low SES. The results showed that the training had beneficial effects on SRL competencies and cognitive load. Furthermore, the results revealed no Matthew effect, either in terms of SRL competencies or of cognitive load. Implications for SRL as well as reasons why cognitive load theory should be considered when conducting research on SRL are discussed.
