Abstract
In peer assessment, both receiving feedback and giving feedback (reviewing peers’ products) have been found to be beneficial for learning. However, the different ways to give feedback and their influence on learning have not been studied enough. This experimental study compared giving feedback by writing comments and by grading, to determine which contributes more to the feedback providers’ learning. Secondary school students from Russia (n = 51) and the Netherlands (n = 42) gave feedback on concept maps during a physics lesson. The lesson was given in an online inquiry learning environment that included an online lab. Students gave feedback in a special Peer Assessment tool, which also provided assessment criteria. Findings indicate that post-test knowledge scores were higher for students from the commenting group. The difference between the groups was largest for the low prior knowledge students. Possible educational implications and directions for further research are discussed.
Highlights
Peer assessment is becoming more and more popular among edu cators
Even though their teachers reported that students in both countries were familiar with the idea of peer assessment, the students did not have any experience with giving feed back in online inquiry learning environments, nor did they receive any specific training in doing this
The feedback-giving component of the peer assessment process has been studied less than the feedback-receiving component, several studies have demonstrated that a reviewer learns from the reviewing process (Cho & Cho, 2011; Li et al, 2010; Lu & Zhang, 2012; Lundstrom & Baker, 2009; Patchan & Schunn, 2015)
Summary
According to a meta-analysis conducted by Li, Xiong, Hunter, Guo, and Tywoniw (2020), peer assessment has a positive, average-sized effect on students’ learning. The same meta-analysis showed that computer-based peer assessment leads to bigger learning gains than paper-based peer assessment. Despite the ongoing research in this area, it is not yet fully clear how different characteristics of the peer assessment process influence its presumed effect. Investigating these issues by focusing on particular aspects and mechanisms of the peer assessment process with a (quasi-) experimental design can especially contribute to knowledge about this process (Strijbos & Sluijsmans, 2010)
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