Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Think About Thinking |
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| Authors: | Eric F Schneider Ashley N Castleberry Jasna Vuk Cindy D Stowe |
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| Institution: | aUniversity of Waterloo School of Pharmacy, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;bUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy, Little Rock, Arkansas;cUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Office of Educational Development, Little Rock, Arkansas;dSullivan University College of Pharmacy, Louisville, Kentucky |
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| Abstract: | Objective. To investigate students’ metacognitive skills to distinguish what they know from what they do not know, to assess students’ prediction of performance on a summative examination, and to compare student-identified incorrect questions with actual examination performance in order to improve exam quality.Methods. Students completed a test-taking questionnaire identifying items perceived to be incorrect and rating their test-taking ability.Results. Higher performing students evidenced better metacognitive skills by more accurately identifying incorrect items on the exam. Most students (86%) underpredicted their performance on the summative examination (actual=73.6 ± 7.1 versus predicted=63.7 ± 10.5, p<0.05). Student responses helped refine items and resulted in examination changes.Conclusion. Metacognition is important to the development of life-long learning in pharmacy students. Students able to monitor what they know and what they do not know can improve their performance. |
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| Keywords: | metacognition life-long learning test-taking ability |
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