THE POTENTIAL POWER OF PEER FEEDBACK: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATION OF GIFTED MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PEER FEEDBACK AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL TO IMPROVE SCIENCE LEARNING

Abstract

This study investigated how peer feedback as an instructional tool might increase the engagement of gifted middle school science students, potentially impacting their academic performance in science. It specifically addressed gifted students’ perceptions of peer feedback in science. Furthermore, it explored how peer feedback could be considered a potentially effective learning strategy to increase student’s engagement and learning from their peers in the science classroom. In this quantitative study, the researcher examined the independent variable, which was comprised of three peer feedback conditions: learning condition, rubric condition, and line condition, to see how students’ perceptions of the usefulness of peer feedback were in science. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to understand if there were any changes in student perceptions during peer feedback conditions through a STEM prosthetic hand project. All students participated in each stage of the study design by learning about the peer feedback conditions (learning, rubric, and line-by-line condition) and completed each survey at the conclusion of each condition. Within each peer feedback condition, students were learning how to give, receive, and apply peer feedback (the peer feedback cycle). However, the results of statistical analyses revealed no significant differences among the three peer feedback conditions. These findings challenge much of the available literature on peer feedback and suggest that these different conditions may be influenced by factors not accounted for in this study. There is evidence to suggest that there is enough promise in utilizing peer feedback, specifically using peer feedback in science and STEM courses. Future research should explore the potential impact on study results if the peer feedback cycle is applied after engaging in extensive community-building, in non-gifted learning environments, and with a control condition over a longer implementation period.