A preliminary study on how accuracy relates to student self reports of confidence on a conceptual physics test

Abstract

We report on a study involving three streams of first year physics students at the University of Sydney – Fundamentals, Regular and Advanced. Students from the three streams completed a multiple choice conceptual quiz on the web as part of their first assignment. They also indicated how confident they were that their answer(s) were correct. As expected the mean values of accuracy and confidence vary according to streams, and prior exposure and achievement in physics. In this context, we explore the viability of the meta-cognitive constructs of ‘calibration’ and ‘bias’.