Experiences of setting short-term learning goals for primary school students and reflecting on their implementation: a case study of one Lithuanian school

Abstract

The article presents the results of an action research study in which 4th-grade students (aged 10-11) were taught to independently set short-term learning goals and reflect on their implementation by reflecting on their educational experiences. The aim of the study is to investigate and describe the experiences of primary school students in independently setting short-term, one-week personal learning goals, how they reflect on goal implementation methods and achieved results when applying action research. The study involved 50 students and 4 teachers. The research was conducted from May to August 2023. The article presents significant data showing how students formulated short-term goals and how they were able to reflect on their implementation experience. In the empirical part, systematic data are presented on how students relate goals to specific subject content, adherence to class agreements, student behavior in the classroom, independently applied learning strategies, and students’ personal characteristics.

Keywords

• Short-term learning goal setting and implementation
• reflection
• experiences
• primary school students
• school case
• Teachers & Teacher Education