Self-monitoring: Confidence, academic achievement and gender differences in Physics

Abstract

Metacognition is the higher-order monitoring that deals with a person’s regulation of thought processes and governs learning strategies and understanding in an instructional setting. The ability to appraise and judge the quality of one’s own cognitive work in the course of doing it is self-monitoring. If the work needs to be done within a short time frame then rapid assessments of how confident a person is that their answer is accurate provide means of self-monitoring. The aim of this study was twofold, first, to investigate physics students’ self-monitoring, and second, to investigate gender differences in self-monitoring. The study was carried out with 490 first year university physics students who were administered an online mechanics quiz that contributed to assignment marks. Results indicate that classes with higher academic achievement exhibit better self-monitoring capability. Gender differences were found on confidence but not on self-monitoring. Theoretical models of self-monitoring are explored, as are implications for teaching and learning.xx