Previous work has demonstrated that low performing general chemistry students suffer from illusory competence�they are substantially miscalibrated from their actual standing on course assessments. This miscalibration phenomenon also appears to persist across a semester, despite repeated course feedback. Here, we describe exam self-assessment as a reflective writing activity designed to abate students' illusions of competence. Briefly, students addressed why a specific exam response did not receive full credit, reflected upon learning/studying issues that resulted in receiving less than full credit, and provided responses that they believed would have received full credit. Using a combination of graphical analyses and hierarchical linear modeling, we confirmed that self-assessments help students to become more calibrated to their actual exam performance.

Mitigating students' illusions of competence with self-assessment

247th National Meeting (2014)

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