Feedback in 8th Grade Science

8th Grade Science

Ken Andersen & Kerry-Ann Hinds

Problem Identified: Students needed more specific feedback on how close they were to earning Meeting on rubric lines for various projects.

Hypothesis: If we use an expanded rubric scale to provide additional feedback on projects, then students will have a better understanding of the path to mastery as measured by more successful upgrades.

Data Collection:

Actionable Step: Split the Approaching column in your next rubric to High Approaching and Low Approaching and test if more precise feedback is beneficial to students.

Overall Findings/Impact: The findings were not conclusive. Two students in the experimental group who received High Approaching (HA) upgraded to Meeting. One student in the control group chose to upgrade from Approaching to Meeting.

801 students are generally not motivated to upgrade in a timely way so these numbers may change as we close out the unit in the next week.

I believe that additional exposure to the expanded rubric will help build student awareness of their mastery levels so the results could improve over time.