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Opportunities for Self-Evaluation Increase Student Calibration in an Introductory Biology Course.


ABSTRACT: Accurate self-evaluation is critical for learning. Calibration describes the relationship between learners' perception of their performance and their actual performance on a task. Here, we describe two studies aimed at assessing and improving student calibration in a first-semester introductory biology course at a 4-year public institution. Study 1 investigated students' (n = 310) calibration (the difference between estimated and actual exam performance) across one semester. Students were significantly miscalibrated for the first exam: their predicted scores were, on average, significantly higher than their actual scores. The lowest-performing students had the most inaccurate estimates. Calibration improved with each exam. By the final exam, students underestimated their scores. We initiated a second study in the following semester to examine whether explicitly teaching students about self-evaluation strategies would improve their calibration and performance. Instruction in the experimental section (n = 290) focused on students' tendency to overestimate their abilities and provided retrieval-practice opportunities. Students in the experimental section showed better calibration and performance on the first exam compared with students in a control section taught by a different instructor during the same semester (n = 251). These findings suggest that simple instructional strategies can increase students' metacognitive awareness and improve their performance.

SUBMITTER: Osterhage JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6755215 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Opportunities for Self-Evaluation Increase Student Calibration in an Introductory Biology Course.

Osterhage Jennifer L JL   Usher Ellen L EL   Douin Trisha A TA   Bailey William M WM  

CBE life sciences education 20190601 2


Accurate self-evaluation is critical for learning. Calibration describes the relationship between learners' perception of their performance and their actual performance on a task. Here, we describe two studies aimed at assessing and improving student calibration in a first-semester introductory biology course at a 4-year public institution. Study 1 investigated students' (<i>n</i> = 310) calibration (the difference between estimated and actual exam performance) across one semester. Students were  ...[more]

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