Why being a poor self-assessor is a problem for advanced students

Research shows that more knowledgeable learners often prefer achievable rather than challenging practice problems when given a choice. This leads to smaller performance gains in comparison with practicing on individually difficult problems. But more knowledgeable learners might not necessarily be good self-assessors. In this study high school students were prompted to self-assess their knowledge of geometry sub-topics, then pre-tested on the same sub-topics and given a choice of practice problems from a problem booklet. They were asked to practice on problems that were difficult for them and provided with feedback after each attempted problem. Then, they were given a final test consisting of near transfer problems. The results suggest that good self-assessors (γ = |1|) have significantly improved on their weak areas in comparison with poor self-assessors (γ <|1|), but the difference in the number of correct solution steps between good and poor self-assessors was non-significant. The significant improvement of good self-assessors on their weak areas was especially well pronounced for more knowledgeable learners. Self-assessment similar to self-explanation represents a skill that a person with a wide knowledge base might or might not possess. Practice patterns of good and bad self-assessors are discussed in the light of cognitive load theory.