Marion Händel

Student perceptions of high-achieving classmates

The reported study investigated students’ perceptions of their high-performing classmates in terms of intelligence, social skills, and conscientiousness in different school subjects. The school subjects for study were examined with regard to cognitive, physical, and gender-specific issues. The results show that high academic achievements in particular school subjects lead to negative reactions in the peer group whereas high achievements in other school subjects result in positive peer reactions. In contrast, the respondents’ gender and the gender of the successful classmates had little influence on student perceptions of high achievers. The results are discussed in regard to their implications for gifted education.

Successful in Science Education and Still Popular: A pattern that is possible in China rather than in Germany or Russia

Across several countries, science is often regarded as unpopular and a male-dominated domain. Furthermore, the number of students who are interested in science education or intend to work in the field of science is relatively low. This might be due to expectations adolescents hold towards science and successful scientists. The current cross-national study investigates the expectations of students in relation to highly achieving peers in science education in the three countries China, Germany and Russia (N = 420). Students were asked to indicate their expectations about two fictitious new classmates with respect to three categories: intelligence, social competence and eagerness. Besides national differences, differences concerning the gender of the participating students, the gender of the target students (fictitious highly achieving students in science education) and interaction effects were investigated. Whereas the effects of gender and target gender are inconsistent and negligible, there are significant national differences. Notably, Chinese students hold the most positive expectations about successful peers in science education. The results are discussed with regard to possible explanations and educational consequences.

Unskilled but subjectively aware: Metacognitive monitoring ability and respective awareness in low-performing students

Two studies were conducted to further examine the unskilled-and-unaware effect and to test whether low-performing students are indeed unaware of their (expected) lower metacognitive monitoring abilities. Postdicted judgments of performance and second-order judgments (SOJs) were solicited to test students’ metacognitive awareness. Given that global and local judgments tend to differ (the confidence–frequency effect), we investigated whether students’ (un)awareness pertains to both types of judgments. A first study focusing on global judgments was conducted in a regular exam setting with 196 undergraduate education students. A second study with 115 undergraduate education students examined both global and local judgments. Local judgments were analyzed on an average level and according to different signal detection theory categories (hits, correct rejections, misses, and false alarms). In both studies, students were grouped in four performance quartiles. The results showed that low-performing students highly overestimated their performance (they were functionally overconfident). However, their SOJs indicated that they were less confident in their judgments than the other students, and thus seemed to be aware of their low ability to estimate their own performance (they were not subjectively overconfident). This was observed for global as well as for averaged local SOJs. Moreover, an analysis of the local judgments revealed that students’ SOJs varied depending not only on whether their judgments were accurate but also on whether or not they thought they knew the answer to an item. In sum, SOJs provide valuable information about students’ metacognitive awareness.

Students’ confidence in their performance judgements: a comparison of different response scales

We report results of two studies on metacognitive accuracy with undergraduate education students. Participating students were asked to judge their personal performance in a multiple-choice exam as well as to state their confidence in their performance judgement (second-order judgement [SOJ]). In each study, we compared four conditions that differed in the type of the presented 5-point confidence scale for SOJs. In Study 1, four bipolar scales with different labels were applied; in Study 2, unipolar and bipolar scales were implemented. The results of Study 1 with N = 420 students show that undergraduates on average provided accurate performance estimations. However, students were not aware of their judgement accuracy, shown by a low fit of SOJ and judgement accuracy. In addition, the type of provided scale significantly influenced the SOJs. Study 2 with N = 348 students replicated the findings of the first study and gave further insight into the effects of uni- vs. bipolar response scales.

Metacognitive Knowledge in Young Children: Development of a New Test Procedure for First Graders

Declarative metacognition, that is, explicit knowledge about memory, comprehension, and learning processes, has been found within many studies to be related to memory development and strategy use (Schneider, 2015). Given its importance in the educational context, the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) aims at assessing metacognitive knowledge over the life span. Considering metacognitive knowledge in a longitudinal perspective allows for investigating how metacognitive knowledge evolves and how its development is influenced by other competencies. The present chapter describes the development and evaluation of a new test instrument on metacognitive knowledge that is appropriate for first graders. Comparable with tests for other educational stages investigated in the NEPS, the newly constructed instrument consists of several scenarios that refer to different aspects of strategy knowledge. In the process of test development, an item pool of 20 scenarios was established and pretested in a pilot study with 195 first graders in a group setting. Various criteria were taken into account in the selection of items for the final instrument. The 10 scenarios in the final test covered a wide range of difficulties, and the test exhibited good reliability. The selected items showed good item-fit as well as appropriate item characteristic curves and item total correlations. Moreover, differential item functioning analyses have revealed that the final test was fair for the considered subgroups. In summary, the final instrument demonstrates good psychometric properties and thus serves as an important tool to describe metacognitive knowledge and to analyze its relevance within the educational context.

E-portfolio use and its effects on exam performance – a field study

ABSTRACT The current field study investigated the weekly use of a reflective electronic (e-)portfolio by 1469 higher education students throughout a term and its effect on exam performance. Students’ use of the e-portfolio elements as well as their self-reported use of several learning strategies were documented during a 9-week period. Regression analyses showed that over and above the continuous use and the weekly time spent on the e-portfolio, the reported use of cognitive strategies was a significant predictor for exam grade. Finally, students who used the e-portfolio outperformed their peers without e-portfolio use on the final exam. We discuss results with regard to future implementation and training of the e-portfolio use.

Kompetenztestung bei Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Förderschwerpunkt Lernen

Kompetenztests werden in Large-Scale-Assessments ab dem Schulalter in der Regel in Gruppensettings schriftlich vorgegeben und von den Teilnehmenden in ihrem eigenen Tempo in einer festgelegten Gesamtzeit bearbeitet. Dadurch sind die Testergebnisse potenziell durch die Lesekompetenz der untersuchten Personen beeinflusst. Fur Schulerinnen und Schuler mit Forderschwerpunkt Lernen, die zumeist deutliche Einschrankungen im Lesen aufweisen, konnte eine solche Testung daher eine besondere Herausforderung darstellen. Um zu untersuchen, ob die Testleistungen durch eine derartige Testbedingung substanziell beeintrachtigt und verzerrt werden, wurde eine Studie im Kontrollgruppendesign durchgefuhrt. Sowohl fur Schulerinnen und Schuler mit Forderschwerpunkt Lernen als auch fur Schulerinnen und Schuler der Hauptschule (jeweils 6. Jahrgangsstufe) wurden zwei verschiedene Testbedingungen realisiert: eine Bedingung analog zur Testung bei Schulerinnen und Schulern der Regelschule (Selbst lesen) und eine Bedingung, in der jegliche schriftlich prasentierte Information im Test zusatzlich mundlich vorgegeben wurde (Vorlesen). Diese experimentelle Variation wurde exemplarisch fur die Testung metakognitiven Wissens durchgefuhrt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Forderschulerinnen und Forderschuler mehr fehlende Werte und deutlich niedrigere Kompetenzwerte im Bereich des metakognitiven Wissens aufweisen als Schulerinnen und Schuler der Hauptschulkontrollgruppe. In der Bedingung „Vorlesen“ erreichten die Schulerinnen und Schuler hohere Werte als in der Bedingung „Selbst lesen“. Allerdings zeigte ein Interaktionseffekt von Schulform und Testbedingung, dass sich dieser Effekt nur fur die Hauptschulerinnen und Hauptschuler als statistisch signifikant erwies. Weiterhin ergaben sich bedeutsame Zusammenhange der Testleistung mit der Lesegeschwindigkeit. Die Korrelationen waren in der Selbstlesebedingung hoher als in der Vorlesebedingung. Die Ergebnisse werden in Hinblick auf die Validitat von Kompetenzmessungen bei Forderschulerinnen und Forderschulern diskutiert.