Professional Masters in Education

Alec Baker

‘Investigating the Effectiveness of Self- and Peer-Assessment or Feedback Methods on Student Learning in the Art Room’

As a teacher, I am interested in predominantly constructivist approaches to learning and development. I am dedicated to further developing my practice and am investigating how best to incorporate eco-pedagogies, better differentiation, and more restorative techniques in my teaching.

My action-research project focused on investigating the effectiveness of self- and peer-assessment or feedback on student learning in Art, Craft, and Design classrooms of secondary-schools in Ireland. Questionnaires and focus groups were used to collect and assess student opinions and experiences.

The project Unit of Learning this research was investigated through was entitled ‘Etching Folklore’ completed with 5th year Senior Cycle students. This project encouraged students to communicate a story through the medium of dry-point etching.

Over this project, students used three different types of self- and peer-assessment methods, including discussion of and ‘traffic-light coding’ of the assessment criteria, ‘Perkin’s Ladder of feedback’, and ‘Think-Pair-Share’ worksheets.

The main findings of this research were: that the students feel most comfortable in their own space surrounded by people they know and trust, the students were most engaged in collaborative activities that involve movement and investigation, and of the methods tried, the students preferred peer-assessment to self-assessment, especially using the format of ‘Think-Pair-Share’ worksheets.

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