The relationship between students’ prior mathematical attainment, knowledge and confidence on their self-assessment accuracy

Abstract

The ability of students to assess their own performance accurately may allow them to self-regulate their learning through metacognitive monitoring. This research investigates factors affecting undergraduate radiation physics students’ ability to self-assess their work accurately in a mathematical subject test. The factors investigated are demographics, mathematics confidence, prior mathematical attainment and prior level of mathematical knowledge. Students’ accuracy of their self-assessment was found to be associated with their prior mathematical attainment and their overall mathematics confidence. Students with high and low prior mathematical attainment self-assessed more accurately than students who had moderate prior attainment. These results have implications for how students may determine their own learning strategies and the pedagogical use of summative self-assessments.