In this blog entry, I will talk about formative vs. summative feedback. Formative feedback is feedback that occurs when you are teaching and are getting the information back from the students during every step that you are teaching. For instance, I am a math teacher. If I am giving a lesson on order of operations in pre algebra, I would start off by saying that the first thing you would compute would be computations in parenthesis first. Formative feedback would require me to make sure that all my students would comprehend this information first before moving on. I would then continue by saying next one would do all multiplication and division from left to right. I would then stop and make sure that all my students understood this before continuing on. Lastly, I would teach that addition and subtraction come last, done from left to right.
Summative feedback is a little different. The feedback comes at the end of the process, after you have taught. In my lesson on order of operations, I would say that you would do all operations in parenthesis first, then do all multiplication and divisions from left to right, then lastly do additions and subtractions from left to right. I would then pause to take a moment to see if any of my students had any problems grasping these concepts, then if any of them did, I would go back and re-teach the concepts back to them. In formative feedback, if there was any confusion in any steps, I would take the time during that step and re-teach them, but in summative feedback, I would not know where the problem lay until after I had completed my lecture.
In my opinion, I think formative feedback is a much more useful tool, and is one that I use in my classroom on a daily basis. I find it is much easier to stop a lesson midway than having to go back and re-teach a whole class who might be lost. It is easier to stop the problem halfway through than to continue a lesson where the class may be completely lost on what I may be saying.
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2 comments:
Hi, Chris. Your illustration on formative feedback was an excellent way to describe its function. By teaching a series of concepts in sequence and assessing each as you progress, you are better able to gauge what is actually learned and make adjustments to your instructional delivery mechanisms, ensuring learning occurs as you progress.
The summative feedback provides you with concrete evidence of learned skills. By using this strategy, you are ensuring that your perceptions of student achievement are accurate. This data will cause you to examine and make adjustments to your instructional plan, as well.
Thank you so VERY MUCH this question was on my Principles Of Education Multimedia exam!
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