Assessment of Strategic Knowledge of Learning From Errors in Higher Education

In higher education settings, students are confronted with learning materials and topics of great difficulty. Therefore, learning from errors and dealing with them in an adaptive way tends to be important. Besides facets such as error culture, students' learning in such situations might differ due to individual differences in strategic knowledge of dealing with errors while learning. In this study, we developed a scenario-based test that aims to measure strategic knowledge of learning from errors in higher education settings. Besides cognitive-behavioral strategies, affective-motivational regulation strategies were considered and a standard of comparison was derived through expert rating. The article addresses the evaluation of the psychometric properties of this test in German. Analyses relied on a sample of 178 university students. Findings showed good signs of unidimensionality. Construct reliability and test difficulty tended to be lower than optimal. Relationships with students' tendencies to deal adaptively with errors in learning were also explored. Finally, research desiderata and areas of application are discussed.