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The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias
Inspired by a paper at last year's PERC conference, in which Rebello [1] compared students' individual and cohort mean score estimations with their actual assessment scores, we present results of a study in which students in an introductory physics class were asked to predict their scores on two assessments, one delivered at the start of the course (pre-instruction) and one at the end of the course (post-instruction). Our results show that, pre-instruction, the academically strongest students tend to underestimate their score slightly, whereas the weakest overestimate their performance significantly, consistent with the findings of Rebello and demonstrating a well-known cognitive bias (the Dunning-Kruger effect). Post-instruction, we find that the ability of the original weakest quartile cohort to accurately predict their own assessment score has improved significantly, but a flux of students between quartiles from one assessment to the other reveals that the least able students continue to over-estimate their performance, but with a reduced mean discrepancy. We discuss the implications these results have for instruction and for development of enhanced metacognition amongst physics students.
Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012 Volume 1513, Pages 138-141
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<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=17198">Bates, S, R. Galloway, J. Parker, and E. Usoskina. "The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012.</a>
S. Bates, R. Galloway, J. Parker, and E. Usoskina, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120).
S. Bates, R. Galloway, J. Parker, and E. Usoskina, The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120>.
Bates, S., Galloway, R., Parker, J., & Usoskina, E. (2012, August 1-2). The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved November 7, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120
Bates, S, R. Galloway, J. Parker, and E. Usoskina. "The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120 (accessed 7 November 2025).
Bates, Simon, Ross Galloway, Jonathan Parker, and Evguenia Usoskina. "The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 138-141 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 7 Nov. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Simon Bates and Ross Galloway and Jonathan Parker and Evguenia Usoskina",
Title = {The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012},
Pages = {138-141},
Address = {Philadelphia, PA},
Series = {PER Conference},
Volume = {1513},
Month = {August 1-2},
Year = {2012}
}
%A Simon Bates %A Ross Galloway %A Jonathan Parker %A Evguenia Usoskina %T The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 138-141 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf %0 Conference Proceedings %A Bates, Simon %A Galloway, Ross %A Parker, Jonathan %A Usoskina, Evguenia %D August 1-2 2012 %T The effect of research-based instruction in introductory physics on a common cognitive bias %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 138-141 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=17198&DocID=6120 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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