Self-efficacy and metacognitive strategies in blended science learning: a self-regulated learning perspective

With the accelerated adoption of blended learning in higher education science curricula following the global shift toward digitally integrated instruction, science educators face an urgent need to understand how students' motivational and cognitive self-regulatory processes function across online and face-to-face modalities. Despite this practical imperative, the field lacks empirically validated models specifying how self-efficacy and metacognitive strategies jointly operate to influence science achievement in blended contexts, leaving instructional designers without evidence-based guidance for targeted intervention. This study aimed to examine the mediations and moderations of self-efficacy and metacognitive strategy use in blended science learning contexts for academic achievement. In this study, a total of 449 participants from a university in China completed a validated questionnaire about their self-efficacy in science learning, usage of metacognitive strategies, and academic performance. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the proposed relationship, while mediation analysis employing bias-corrected bootstrapping was also carried out to explore moderation in multiple groups. Results showed that self-efficacy produced a positive direct effect on academic performance (β = 0.317, p < 0.001) with an indirect effect through metacognitive strategy use (β = 0.122, p < 0.01) that explained 27.8% of total effect. Multi-group analysis demonstrated that online learning engagement significantly moderated the self-efficacy-metacognitive strategies pathway (Δχ ² = 5.38, p = 0.020), with stronger associations observed among high-engagement students (β = 0.592) compared to low-engagement students (β = 0.469). These findings carry direct implications for science educators, demonstrating that fostering self-efficacy beliefs serves as a catalyst not only for direct achievement gains but also for activating metacognitive regulatory processes, and that the level of online engagement functions as a critical boundary condition that amplifies this motivational-strategic linkage. This study contributes an empirically validated dual-pathway model that advances understanding of how motivational and cognitive self-regulation mechanisms operate in technology-enhanced science learning, offering a theoretically grounded basis for designing differentiated instructional interventions in blended science classrooms.