Affordances of Student-Influenced Criteria During Classroom Critique

• In Event: Science Teaching and Assessment in the Next Generation Science Standards Era

Abstract

Critique and evaluation are important components of and goals for student learning, but these practices can remain contrived if students do not have an agentic relationship to them. This study in a 5th grade classroom investigates the extent to which student influence over the criteria (e.g., standards) for scientific critique and knowledge-building can provide unique affordances for the development of student epistemic agency and learning. Findings suggest that the presence and use of student-influenced criteria result in more opportunities for meaning-making, connecting ideas, and using scientific practices as tools for learning. These benefits extended to diverse types of activities across the unit plan, supporting students’ sense of epistemic agency even during tasks with relatively direct instruction.

Authors

• Andrea Malek Ash, Gallup

• Brian Hand, University of Iowa