My Notes
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This activity is a post-exam reflection that is adapted from the Exam Wrappers created by Marsha Lovett at Carnegie Mellon University. The activity has the students build metacognition skills by analyzing their exam preparation and performance. Then, students work to identify how each of their study strategies had a positive or negative impact to their performance. Finally, they outline a plan for how they will prepare for future exams. If the student would like, these reflections and plans are then discussed with the instructor in 1-on-1 meetings.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Inorganic Chemistry Post-Exam Reflection_0.docx | 21.02 KB |
- Students will reflect on their exam preparation efforts.
- Students will identify study strategies that are effective or ineffective for them.
- Students will identify positive and negative patterns in their studying.
- Students will communicate their learning strengths and needs to their instructor.
I use this as a take-home activity after every exam in my inorganic chemistry and introductory chemistry courses. I provide it as a single piece of paper and cover sheet to their exam when I return graded exams. I adapt the specific questions that align with that course and my teaching style for that course.
I primary use the reflection is improve the quality of post-exam 1-on-1 discussions with student. I will only have these 1-on-1 discussions if they have completed the reflection. I find that it greatly enhances the quality of the discussion and helps identify appropriate steps for improved future performance. After discussing, I have them keep the reflection.
Due to limited in-class time, I have always implemented this as a take-home, self-paced activity.
Evaluation
I have attached varying levels of “credit” for completing the reflection. This has spanned from zero credit, small amount of credit for thoughtful completion, and 3-5 points back on their exam for thoughtful completion. If cases where credit was attached and answers were incomplete, I provided the student to redo it for partial credit.
I have used this activity for 4 courses and have received overwhelmingly positive responses from students. In particular, the students found discussing the final question, where they identify future study approaches to start and/or stop, to be the most useful. I have found it important for me to let the student know that I am not making a judgement of them when I discuss their reflection, but that I am there to help them improve on their future quizzes and exams in the course. It has been useful to have the student walk me through their reflection – they do not always like to do this, but it helpful to obtain additional information that they did not write down.
After reviewing a portion of the class, I often am able to identify themes in the entire class’s study habits. The most common problem in introductory chemistry is that the students spend a disproportionate amount of time taking and reviewing the practice exam (typically >50% of study time). In inorganic chemistry, the most common problem has been that students do not study enough in groups (i.e., studying solo).