Investigating General Chemistry Students’ Metacognitive Monitoring of Their Exam Performance by Measuring Postdiction Accuracies over Time

Abstract

Metacognitive monitoring of one’s own understanding plays a key role in learning. An aspect of metacognitive monitoring can be measured by comparing a student’s prediction or postdiction of performance (a judgment made before or after completing the relevant task) with the student’s actual performance. In this study, we investigated students’ postdiction accuracies for a series of exams within a two-semester general chemistry course. The research questions addressed include (1) How accurate are general chemistry students at postdicting their exam scores? Are there gender differences in postdiction accuracy? (2) How do general chemistry students’ postdiction accuracies relate to their exam performance? (3) How do general chemistry students’ postdiction accuracies and metacognitive monitoring of their exam performance change over time? Results indicate that most general chemistry students are not accurate in their exam score postdictions and that, consistent with research conducted in other domains, higher-...