Kyle E. Conlon (conlonke@sfasu.edu) and Lauren E. Brewer (brewerle@sfasu.edu), Stephen F. Austin State University
Background/Motivation: We teach psychology at a large southern university of approximately 13,000 students. Many of our students, especially freshman and first-generation students, possess ineffective study strategies that, understandably, lead to considerable frustration. They attend class, take careful notes, ask questions—do all the things we encourage them to do—and yet still underperform on their exams, leading them to ask, “What am I doing wrong?” When we ask students about their study strategies, we tend to find that they (1) rely on poor strategies (e.g., highlighting) and (2) lack insight into why their strategies aren’t working. Hence, we were motivated to create short pre- and post-exam reflection exercises to help students gain metacognitive awareness into their own study strategies.
Nuts & Bolts/Method: The pre-exam reflection exercise was designed for students to reflect on their exam preparation strategies and to identify obstacles to their studying (Appendix Table 1). The post-exam reflection exercise was designed for students to reflect on their exam performance and to determine whether it was necessary to change their study strategies for the next exam (Appendix Table 2). Fifty students (38 women, Mage = 21.10) across three psychology classes consented to participate. Each student completed four exams yielding 200 discreet observations in which a student could have completed no reflections (n = 154), pre-exam reflections only (n = 18), post-exam reflections only (n = 8), or both pre-and post-exam reflections (n = 20). For this study, we compared exam grades for students who completed both pre- and post-exam reflections to exam grades for students who completed neither pre- nor post-exam reflections. Participation was voluntary and students were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time without penalty. In exchange for their participation, participants were entered into a raffle for one of three $100 gift cards. These gift cards were distributed at the end of the semester after final grades were submitted.
Outcomes/Lessons Learned: The exam scores of students who completed both pre- and post-exam reflections (Mgrade = 86.60, SD = 11.01) were significantly higher than exam scores of students who did not complete the reflections (Mgrade = 76.97, SD = 12.31) t(172) = 3.57, p < .001. Additionally, for each student the number of exam reflections completed was positively correlated with exam average (r = .42, p = .03) and with final course grade (r = .50, p = .01).
Our goal was to create brief reflection exercises to help our students gain insight into the effectiveness of their study strategies. More recently, we’ve begun to share these exercises with our academic advisees, some of whom consider dropping or avoiding classes due to poor performance. Although our specific guidance depends on the advisee, we generally encourage them to apply the exercises to the exams in the course or courses in which they’re struggling. We also try to review their responses with them to foster their metacognitive awareness (e.g., “I see you’re highlighting your notes and rereading the text; why do you think these strategies aren’t working?,” “So you felt prepared for this exam but underperformed; why do you think this happened?”). These exercises, which could be used by any academic advisor, jumpstart a discussion with advisees about how to study, which often gives them a renewed sense of hope and perspective for overcoming obstacles in their courses. In some cases, we’ll share specific articles from the metacognition literature (e.g., Putnam, Sungkhasettee, & Roediger, 2016) that dovetail with the use of these exercises. We typically meet with advisees once a semester for course selection, but we both have an open-door mentoring policy and encourage (and sometimes require) follow-up meetings with advisees, particularly those who are struggling and would benefit most from these exercises. Our experience suggests that advisees (1) generally possess poor insight into their studying (2) express surprise that their strategies aren’t as effective as they believe (or as research shows) and (3) through these exercises are forced to think through their study habits in a way they might not otherwise. We’re hopeful that improving advisees’ metacognition extends beyond the classroom to help improve their grades, motivate them beyond initial struggles, and prevent dropout.
References:
Gurung, R. A. R. (2005). How do students really study (and does it matter)? Teaching of Psychology, 32, 239–241.
Henderson, V., & Dweck, C. S. (1990). Motivation and achievement. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 308–329). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Putnam, A. L., Sungkhasettee, V. W., & Roediger, H. L. (2016). Optimizing leaning in college: Tips from cognitive psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 652-660.
Trockel, M. T., Barnes, M. D., & Egget, D. L. (2000). Health-related variables and academic performance among first-year college students: Implications for sleep and other behaviors. Journal of American College Health, 49, 125–131. doi: 10.1080/07448480009596294