Test score prediction and post-test estimation training: Effects on developmental mathematics students

This study examined the effects of training developmental algebra students to make predictions and posttest estimations of test scores, on achievement, monitoring ability, study habits, and attitudes and beliefs about mathematics. Factor analysis of Schommer's Epistemological Beliefs Questionnaire (1998) for a developmental mathematics population is also provided.; Participants were 133 intermediate algebra students from a large Midwestern university. All participants took a pre and post-training survey assessing attitudes (The Aiken Attitude Toward Mathematics Scale, 1974) and beliefs about mathematics. A monitoring only group provided pretest and posttest estimates of performance on all exams and quizzes, and a training-plus-feedback group provided estimates, and were also given feedback on the accuracy of their pretest and posttest estimations when the exam or quiz was returned. A control group did not practice the estimations.; Results indicated that students were quite accurate in pretest and posttest estimations, even before training. There were no differences in achievement due to training. Participants in the monitoring only group became significantly more negatively biased in pretest estimations (p = .05). Students who were accurate in their pretest and posttest estimations used more focused study methods than those who underpredicted their actual scores (p = .037).; Factor analysis of Schommer's (1998) epistemological questionnaire found minor differences in factors from those found in previous studies. No changes in attitudes or beliefs based on treatment were found from pretest to posttest. Students have relatively sophisticated beliefs about mathematics and relatively positive attitudes. They did not believe that mathematics learning is quick and ability is innate, nor did they believe that mathematical knowledge is certain and handed down by authorities who can't be criticized. They did believe that you could learn how to learn, and thought mathematics learning was valuable. These beliefs are contradictory to those found in previous analyses of students' beliefs about mathematics. At the end of the course, students were found to enjoy mathematics less than at the beginning (p = .001) and to be slightly more likely to believe that learning is quick and innate ( p = .002).