The (mis)use of performance quartiles in metacognition and face perception: A comment on Zhou and Jenkins (2020) and Estudillo and Wong (2021)

A common measurement convention within the field of metacognition is to divide participants into quartiles based on task performance, and then compare self-estimated and actual scores within these sub-groups. This analysis strategy created the famous Dunning-Kruger effect, which asserts that the poorest performers tend to grossly overestimate their abilities. A study by Zhou and Jenkins (2020) has recently replicated this effect within the domain of face matching. However, it can be shown that the analysis strategy induces numerical artefacts prone to misinterpretation, and that randomly generated data lead to the same pattern of results. Estudillo and Wong (2021) used a different quartiles-based approach to argue that only the lowest and highest performers on a task of face recognition showed some insight into their performance. Again, a numerical artefact can explain their result, with the restricted range of the second and third quartiles causing reduced observed correlations between actual and self-estimated abilities. These studies highlight the need for methodological caution when exploring metacognitive questions, and we outline some avenues that may aid future investigation

Self-Directed Learning

This book on self-directed learning (SDL) is devoted to original academic scholarship within the field of education, and is the 6th volume in the North-West University (NWU) SDL book series. In this book the authors explore how self-directed learning can be considered an imperative for education in a complex modern society. Although each chapter represents independent research in the field of self-directed learning, the chapters form a coherent contribution concerning the scholarship of self-directed learning, and specifically the effect of environmental and praxis contexts on the enhancement of self-directed learning in a complex society. The publication as a whole provides diverse perspectives on the importance of self-directed learning in varied contexts. Scholars working in a wide range of fields are drawn together in this scholarly work to present a comprehensive dialogue regarding self-directed learning and how this concept functions in a complex and dynamic higher education context. This book presents a combination of theory and practice, which reflects selected conceptual dimensions of self-directed learning in society, as well as research-based findings pertaining to current topical issues relating to implementing self-directed learning in the modern world. The varied methodologies provide the reader with different and balanced perspectives, as well as varied and innovative ideas on how to conduct research in the field of self-directed learning

Self-Directed Learning

This book on self-directed learning (SDL) is devoted to original academic scholarship within the field of education, and is the 6th volume in the North-West University (NWU) SDL book series. In this book the authors explore how self-directed learning can be considered an imperative for education in a complex modern society. Although each chapter represents independent research in the field of self-directed learning, the chapters form a coherent contribution concerning the scholarship of self-directed learning, and specifically the effect of environmental and praxis contexts on the enhancement of self-directed learning in a complex society. The publication as a whole provides diverse perspectives on the importance of self-directed learning in varied contexts. Scholars working in a wide range of fields are drawn together in this scholarly work to present a comprehensive dialogue regarding self-directed learning and how this concept functions in a complex and dynamic higher education context. This book presents a combination of theory and practice, which reflects selected conceptual dimensions of self-directed learning in society, as well as research-based findings pertaining to current topical issues relating to implementing self-directed learning in the modern world. The varied methodologies provide the reader with different and balanced perspectives, as well as varied and innovative ideas on how to conduct research in the field of self-directed learning

Clarification to Points in “Correlating Student Knowledge and Confidence Using a Graded Knowledge Survey to Assess Student Learning in a General Microbiology Classroom”

This letter to the editor provides supplemental information to and clarifies the attribution of our work in Favazzo, L., J. D. Willford, and R. M. Watson. 2014. Correlating student knowledge and confidence using a graded knowledge survey to assess student learning in a general microbiology classroom. <em></em>J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 15(2):251-258. [Online.] <a href="/index.php/jmbe/article/view/693/html_178">http://jmbe.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/693/html_178</a>. Accessed 9 July 2015

Faculty Development as a Hazardous Occupation

Hazardous describes events and conditions that produce an undesired, involuntary, career-changing disruption of a developer’s professional practice. While faculty development is an immensely valuable asset to an institution that knows how to make use of it, the unique nature off acuity development centers within varied academic institutions brings occupational hazards to those who direct or work in such centers. Our study synthesizes and identifies patterns among over thirty cases furnished by developers, primarily center directors, who experienced career disruptions. We conclude by offering evidence-based counsel on how to recognize the hazards and mitigate damage

Using a Concept Inventory to Assess the Reasoning Component of Citizen-Level Science Literacy: Results from a 17,000-Student Study

After articulating 12 concepts for the reasoning component of citizen-level science literacy and restating these as assessable student learning outcomes (SLOs), we developed a valid and reliable assessment instrument for addressing the outcomes with a brief 25-item science literacy concept inventory (SLCI). In this paper, we report the results that we obtained from assessing the citizen-level science literacy of 17,382 undergraduate students, 149 graduate students, and 181 professors. We address only findings at or above the 99.9% confidence level. We found that general education (GE) science courses do not significantly advance understanding of science as a way of knowing. However, the understanding of science’s way of knowing does increase through academic ranks, indicating that the extended overall academic experience better accounts for increasing such thinking capacity than do science courses alone. Higher mean institutional SLCI scores correlate closely with increased institutional selectivity, as measured by the institutions’ higher mean SAT and ACT scores. Socioeconomic factors of a) first-generation student, b) English as a native language, and c) interest in commitment to a science major are unequally distributed across ethnic groups. These factors proved powerful in accounting for the variations in SLCI scores across ethnicities and genders