Do Knowledge Surveys Show Consistent Trends and Correlation to the Cognitive Domain?.

Metacognition, one's critical self-awareness, can potentially advance thinking and learning. Knowledge surveys (KS) have been administered over five academic years in five upper division soils courses at Humboldt State University (n=14 course offerings). "Gains" are the difference between post-test and pre-test scores for student self-assessed ability to answer course outcome-oriented questions. A rating of "1" means that the question cannot be fully addressed for grading purposes, "2" means that it can be partially addressed, and "3" means that the student feels that they can fully address the question. Average gains for a given course show an increase of about 1.0 point between the pre-test and post-test, without any consistent upward or downward trend over time (2013 to 2017). Average gains for specific questions are not well correlated with increasingly challenging Bloom's Taxonomy categories. Neither gains nor post-test scores appear to be good predictors of final exam performance (comprehensive), although students are encouraged to use the Knowledge Test as a study guide for the final exam. Knowledge surveys, as used in these upper division soils courses, will be critiqued further in this presentation.