Beyond the Design Crit: How Students Learn Through Giving and Receiving Feedback
Formative assessment in Design and Technology requires structured peer feedback approaches to be effective. Research shows a significant gap in assessing technological knowledge, with most studies focusing on design knowledge instead.
• Design crits from higher education can be adapted for classroom use through peer feedback
• Research from the Netherlands identifies convergent feedback (clarifying ideas) and divergent feedback (promoting creative responses)
• Teachers must model feedback techniques and provide clear criteria for students
• Effective sentence starters include "I notice your design solves the problem by..." and "Have you considered how your design might work if..."
• Using exemplars (WAGOLL) can limit creativity if not implemented carefully
• Structured peer feedback reduces teacher workload while ensuring all students receive input
• Andrew Halliwell is conducting new research on formative feedback to be presented in July 2025
Resources and References from Episode 3: Beyond the Design Crit: How Students Learn Through Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Research from the Netherlands on peer feedback in D&T education
- Research focused on effective convergent and divergent feedback techniques
- Research addressing how pupils struggle with receiving and giving useful feedback
- Nuffield Key Stage 3 materials with sentence structures for convergent and divergent questions
- Available on the D&T for D&T website
- Chapter by Alice Shutt in the "Debates in Design and Technology" book about the Netherlands research
Acknowledgement:
Some of the supplementary content for this podcast episode was crafted with the assistance of Claude, an AI language model developed by Anthropic. While the core content is based on the actual conversation and my editorial direction, Claude helped in refining and structuring information to best serve listeners. This collaborative approach allows me to provide you with concise, informative, and engaging content to complement each episode.
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