The Role of Feedback in High School Students’ Collaborative Design Practice in a Problem-Solving and Design Competition

• In Event: Examining Feedback Practices in Multiple Settings With Multiple Perspectives

Abstract

A recent report by the National Science Board (2010a) cited "invention competitions" as one strategy for promoting STEM learning experiences such as “inquiry-based learning, peer collaboration, open-ended, real-world problem solving, hands-on training, and interactions with practicing scientists, engineers and other experts" (pp. 16-18). Although much has been learned about effective feedback practices in formal education contexts (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie & Timperley, 2007), less is known about feedback use in collaborative design experiences in the loosely structured, out-of-classroom settings that frequently characterize competition project work. This paper explores feedback practice by high school students working in collaborative project teams outside of the classroom, in the context of a STEM-oriented problem solving and design competition for high school students in the northwestern U.S. In the context of such projects students seek and receive feedback from peers and experts, in meetings and interviews, for information gathering, project management, and other purposes. The guiding question of the study is, how do students use feedback, and what feedback proves useful for project success?

This research is grounded in the cultural historical activity theory (Engeström, 1987; 1990; 2008), which shifts the focus of inquiry from the outcomes of project work onto its process, suggesting how feedback might facilitate or constrain “expansive transformation” processes crucial to project success. Also, sociocultural and situative theoretical perspectives (Wenger, 1998; Greeno, Collins & Resnick, 1996; Hickey & Granade, 2004) are leveraged to examine the motivational aspects of feedback over time and across the contextual boundaries bridged by the project activity systems.

Qualitative approaches are recommended for analyzing systems of social interaction within a particular context (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002). The context is the Imagine Tomorrow competition, where students identify challenges and develop solutions related to environmental sustainability. A confirmatory, comparative, embedded case study with two cases was used (Yin, 2006; 2010). The project is conceptualized as an activity system, with the student team members and advisors representing sub-units within the project-cases. The participants are students and teacher-advisors of two teams, each from one of two high schools in the greater Seattle area. The data, collected over roughly three months, include transcripts of team meetings and interviews with students and advisors, field notes, and documents.

Analysis followed grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006, 2001; Strauss & Corbin, 1998; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and activity systems analysis methods (Yamagata-Lynch, 2010), namely the constant comparative method and thematic analysis, with iterative cycles of open and focused coding (using Atlas.ti software) for building inferences. Findings suggest that peer feedback motivates engagement with the immediate objects of collective activity. On the other hand, feedback from interaction with other activity systems or stakeholders motivates “expansive transformation” (Engeström, 2001) of the project activity system, by revealing existing or potential contradictions in activity.

One practical contribution of this research is in identifying the feedback practices that help to develop out-of-classroom student competition projects in effective ways. A related theoretical contribution is in elucidating the role of feedback in motivating “risky” project moves regarding design ideas or approaches.

Author

• Andrew E. Morozov, University of Washington