Feedback and Marking in the Science Classroom

Ensuring the recipient does more work than the donor

• Doug Napolitano-Cremin

• Haverstock School, Camden.

• @sciteachcremin

• www.reflectivetandl.com

Overview

• Feedback – what the research says.

• Before the lesson.

• During the lesson.

• After the lesson.

Marking and Feedback – Why bother?

‘Feedback is among the most common features of successful teaching and learning’.

John Hattie, Visible Learning for Teachers, 2012

Marking and Feedback – Why bother?

‘…it’s effects are among the most variable’.John Hattie, Visible Learning for Teachers, 2012

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• Feedback aims to reduce the gap between where the student ‘is’ and where they are ‘meant to be’.

• Teachers need to have a good understanding of where pupils are, and where they are meant to be.

• This should also be made explicit to pupils.

• Pre-assessment.

• Learning goals/success criteria etc.

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• However often we mark, what ever format our feedback takes, we must ensure that the feedback we provide is acted upon by the learner.

Feedback must, ‘…provide a recipe for future action’.Dylan Wiliam, Embedding formative assessment, 2011.

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• It is not the form that feedback takes but the effect it has on learners.

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• Hattie describes 4 different levels of feedback:

1.Task and product.• Correct or incorrect.

• ‘You need to go through what you have written, number the order in which things have happened, and rewrite them in that order’.

2.Process.• ‘…You’re asked to compare these ideas. For example, you could try to see how they are

similar, how they are different… How do they relate to each other’.

3.Self-regulation or conditional.• Students monitoring their own learning.

• ‘Have you got any ideas why you got it wrong?’

4.Self.• Praise!

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• Learning is enhanced if pupils learn to ‘become their own teachers’.

• How can we do this through marking and feedback?• Timing.

• Scaffolding.

• Ability is incremental rather than fixed.

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• In summary, feedback should:• Provide a recipe for future actions.

• Cause thinking.

• Not be seen as an end-point.

‘Never grade students while they are still learning’.

Alfie Kohn.

• Be separate from praise.

• Be focused.

• Relate to the learning objectives.

• Be more work for the recipient than the donor.

•Less is more!

Marking and FeedbackBefore the lesson

• Planning is key.

• Learning objectives/outcomes.

• Assessing progress.

• Next steps.

Marking and FeedbackDuring the lesson

•What are we doing in Science at Haverstock?

Marking and FeedbackWhat does the research say?

• Feedback aims to reduce the gap between where the student ‘is’ and where they are ‘meant to be’.

• Teachers need to have a good understanding of where pupils are, and where they are meant to be.

• This should also be made explicit to pupils.

• Pre-assessment.

• Learning goals/success criteria etc.

Marking and FeedbackDuring the lesson

Target word Nucleus Fusion

Fertilisation Sperm Cloning Identical Asexual

1. I don’t know the word

2. I’ve heard it before but I don’t know what it means

3. I know something about it but only in certain situations. I can’t use the word easily

4. I know the word well. I can explain it and use it

Score

Name: Date:

Word Learning Score

Score =

Marking and FeedbackDuring the lesson

• Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time

Marking and FeedbackDuring the lesson

Source:Alex Quigleyhttp://www.huntingenglish.com/2013/06/16/improving-written-feedback/

Marking and FeedbackDuring the lesson

Source:David Didauhttp://www.learningspy.co.uk/assessment/marking-act-love/

Marking and FeedbackAfter the lesson

•?

Marking and FeedbackComments, questions, ideas

Feedback and Marking in the Science Classroom

Ensuring the recipient does more work than the donor

• Doug Napolitano-Cremin

• Haverstock School, Camden.

• @sciteachcremin

• www.reflectivetandl.com