Well-calibrated intuitions, flawed judgments: Low post-instruction self-efficacy steers students away from efficient learning

When deciding how to study, students often choose suboptimal strategies. Our experiment investigated how preferences for instructional methods—video, practice, or both combined—affect learning outcomes. We randomly assigned 130 participants to receive their preferred method (honoring initial choice) or a different method (dishonoring choice). Contrary to previous research showing preferences for lectures, most participants initially preferred approaches involving practice (35% practice-only; 50% combined). After instruction, preferences shifted further towards combined methods (74%). Low post-test self-efficacy predicted changing to combined instruction, suggesting students with low confidence may overvalue comprehensive approaches, even though practice alone was equally effective at promoting recall and reduced instructional time by 66%. Honoring preferences did not significantly influence recall or efficiency, suggesting that control over instructional methods may be less important than the methods themselves. These findings contribute to a growing body of research suggesting students and instructors can utilize practice to optimize learning efficiency.