Feedback and Discourse as a Critical Skill for the Development of Experimentation Competencies

Abstract

AbstractDeveloping experimentation competencies is enhanced through scientific discourse and feedback. Students who are able to give and receive feedback through authentic scientific discourse are better able to reason about their science, identify questions, to value collaboration, construct knowledge, and to gain intellectual confidence as practicing scientists. Although the ACE-Bio Competencies were not the driver for our work, they were an important lens and affirmation of our curriculum where students learn to reason scientifically and do biological experimentation through scientific discourse and feedback. In this chapter we discuss the value of feedback, how we scaffold opportunities to practice giving and receiving feedback into a multi-week experimentation curriculum, and some practical implementation strategies with particular focus on the influence of a feedback-rich curriculum for students’ achievement of experimentation competencies. We provide examples, evidence, and instructional materials that support student learning through feedback and discourse. We articulate implications that would be relevant to junior faculty new to teaching experimentation as well as long-time practitioners. Finally, we outline affordances and persistent challenges to this type of teaching and learning, especially important when making decisions with limited resources.