Metacognitive Awareness of Third Year Chinese Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in Wuhan University of Science and Technology: Preliminary Evaluation and Implications for Training of Life long Learners
Background: Assessing and improving metacognitive awareness in pharmay students is essential to maintain lifelong competency of pharmacists and high quality care for their patients. Objective: This preliminary study aimed to investigate the acquisition of metacognitive awareness and self assessment as a predictor/estimator of scores on a summative examination in 57 third year Chinese undergraduate pharmacy students in Wuhan University of Science and Technology. Methods: The 30 item Meta cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ 30) was used to assess students' metacognitive beliefs. Before administration of examination, students were required to complete a percentage correct scale for self quantifying their potential performance, and students were also provided estimates of their performance after completing the examination. Results: The mean score of MCQ 30 was 76.95, and there were no significant differences in MCQ 30 scores according to gender and age, except that males scored 2.03 points higher than females in the "Need for control over thoughts" subscale. However, only 33.3% of students correctly predicted their total scores before exam, and the differences between actual and estimated performance after exam were statistically significant. In general, respondent pharmacy students have under predicted their performance before the exam, but over estimated their performance after exam. Moreover, students who accurately or under predicted their performance before exam had higher MCQ 30 scores than over predicted students. Conclusion: It is necessary to explore effective educational methods to help Chinese pharmacy students to practically develop metacognitive awareness and skills by creating awareness of their existing knowledge.