Constructive Feedback

             In math, I think it is common, when marking, to have the attitude "its right or its wrong". Consequently, this results in either a check mark or and "x". It is important for teachers be constructive with their feedback. What has been done well? What needs some work? What are the next steps the student needs to take? I first saw the following exercise during my undergraduate degree in a course called "Mentorship and Learning". I have also used it with my own students during placement to help them to understand the importance of constructive feedback during peer assessment. It is not enough to say: "good job! awesome!". We need to be specific in our language. I hope you will find the following exercise as helpful as I found it.

             During this exercise you select 4 volunteers and have them leave the room. With the remainder of the class you give one person a tennis ball and have them put it in their desk. Each of the volunteers will come back into the room one at a time and be told to ask 3 people of their choice 3 yes or no questions to help them find who has the tennis ball. Before each volunteer comes in, the class is given instructions on how to answer the question. In between each question the volunteers will be told to move on to the next question quickly.

             The first volunteer comes in and asks their questions. The class remains silent and does not answer any of the questions.

             The second volunteer comes in and asks their questions. The class responds positively, but is not helpful. For example: Question: Is the person who has the tennis ball female? Answer: Thats a great question!! Question: Does the person who has the tennis ball have brown hair? Answer: I like the way you worded that!

             The third volunteer comes in and asks their questions. The class responds negatively. For example: Question: Is the person who has the tennis ball male? Answer: That is not a good question! Question: Does the person who has the tennis ball have brown hair? Answer: Why would you ask that?

             The fourth volunteer comes in and asks their questions. The class responds positive and CONSTRUCTIVELY by helping to lead them to the next question so they can find the tennis ball. For example: Question: Is the person who has the tennis ball female? Answer: Yes. That is a really good question. Her hair is very long. You should ask what colour is it. Question: Does she have brown hair? Answer: No she has blond hair and she is wearing a t-shirt.

             By the end of the exercise, the fourth volunteer will be the closest to finding the tennis ball. Each volunteer is given the opportunity to share their feelings about the feedback they received and if it was helpful. The teacher then compares the first volunteer to receiving feedback that consists of check marks and x's. This lets the student know whether they were correct or incorrect, but gives them no information on how to improve. The second volunteer is compared to positive feedback that doesn’t give students a next step. There is always room for improvement and it is important for students to know what they can do to improve their work (being more specific, organizing their work more neatly, including a "therefore" statement, showing all of their work, etc.). The third volunteer is compared to negative feedback where students are only informed that they were incorrect and not given any feedback on what they could do to improve, where they went wrong, etc. The fourth volunteer is compared to constructive feedback where students are given specific details for what their strengths were, what they need to improve on and how. 

             This exercise is very effective in illustrating the importance of constructive feedback for both teachers and students. This is something that would be great for a professional development workshop, as well as for a classroom before student are going to go through peer review, a gallery walk, or some type of peer assessment. I think that it is also beneficial in providing students with ideas for what questions they can ask after receiving feedback. What should I have done differently? How can I improve? Where did I go wrong?