PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Professional Inquiry Project: Findings

Toby Paterson 110145441

Focus
In my proposal, I had originally planned my focus to be “How can I improve my use of timely,
specific and targeted written and verbal feedback to year 5/6 students in mathematics
lessons?”, however, on my mentor’s request I altered this to focus specifically on verbal
feedback. Furthermore, once the professional inquiry had begun, it became clear that a
focus on feedback, feedforward and questioning was more appropriate. In asking my Mentor
to record the frequency of feedback that I used, she noticed I also incorporated questioning
in my lessons – which in her opinion, and in line with literature – a very important aspect of
inquiry-based mathematics (Erdogan & Campbell 2008, p. 1911; Chin 2007, p. 1319).
Further to this, she discussed the distinction between methods of feedback. She defined
feedback as comments on what a student did well, and feedforward as something a student
can work on or consider next time. With this guidance, I changed my focus to “How can I
improve my use of verbal feedback, feedforward and questioning to facilitate learning for
year 5/6 students in mathematics lessons?”

Justification of teaching behaviour & curriculum area focus

The use of feedback and questioning are both highly influential teaching strategies that
facilitate learning, deepen understanding, and encourage academic achievement (Hattie
2011, Sullivan 2003, p. 1). The focus on the use of these techniques in my own practice is
therefore an important area of developing a strong pedagogy that is conducive to learning
(Wiliam 2014, p. 16). Understanding practice allows critical reflection and therefore
development of skills (Smyth 1989, p. 3), and it was important to ensure the effective
employment of questioning and feedback on my final placement.

Feedback is a vital technique that teachers should use to facilitate and enhance student
learning (Skipper & Douglas 2012, p. 328), increase motivation, promote strong self-esteem
and ensure positive classroom relationships (Dinham 2008, p. 35). Feedback that is specific
(Skipper and Douglas 2012, p. 335), targeted (Nugrahenny 2007, pp. 38), differentiated
(Ferris et al. 1997, p. 180), understandable and that allows for change on the students’ part
(McTighe & O’Connor 2005, p. 13) is conducive to learning (Elawar & Corno 1985, p. 172)
and improves academic outcomes (Hyland 2003, p. 218). Distinguishing between feedback,
feedforward and questioning ensures teachers provide effective feedback statements that
facilitate student understanding and reflection which should show the student what they have
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

done well, and precisely where they can improve in order to further educational outcomes
(McTighe & O’Connor 2005, p. 13)

The adaptation of this inquiry project has been to ensure the use of feedback that ensures to
address the questions outlined by Elawar and Corno (1985, p. 164) adapted as follows:

• “What is the key error? (Feedforward);

• How can I guide the student to correct this error and to avoid it in the future?
(Questioning), and;
• What did the student do well that could be noted?” (Feedback).

Context & curriculum area

The site in which I conducted this Professional Inquiry Project is a public, Department for
Education, category 7 school situated in the central Adelaide hills. With a student population
of 119, this small school provides an intimate setting where Harmony, Progress & Success
are core values (Bartlett 2018, pp. 1, 3). This Professional Inquiry Project was conducted in
a Year 5/6 class consisting of four Year 5 students and fifteen Year 6 students, with a male
to female ratio of 10:9. The class has some behaviour issues, and of the 19 students, 6
students have some form of dyslexia tendencies, 1 student is confirmed to have autism
spectrum disorder, with a further three students showing ASD tendencies.

The PIP was conducted throughout a mathematics unit in the Chance and Data area. The
use of feedback, feedforward, and especially questioning was important to facilitate learning
and encourage exploration of mathematical concepts such as representing probabilities on a
number line as fractions, decimals and percentages as outlined in the Australian Curriculum
(2018).

Design & data collection techniques

I had originally planned to collect my data through a variety of monitoring and recording
techniques as follows:

1. Keeping a journal to comment on how I feel my feedback is delivered and received,

and to what impact it has had. This technique is substantiated by Shultz (n.d.), who
argues journaling as a useful method of recording thoughts and feelings for an action
research project.
2. Have my mentor to provide me with verbal and written comments to a proforma in
relation to my feedback throughout my placement, with a main focus on mathematics
lessons. This technique is advocated for by Grundy (1995, pp. 19-20) and Shultz
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

(n.d.), as it provides vital data that is easy to obtain, and useful in improving teacher
practice.
3. Have my teacher record a simple frequency checklist on how often I utilise verbal
feedback, differentiating between feedback that is specific, or generalised feedback.
4. Ask students to read their written feedback from a previous lesson, adjust their work
where necessary, and then write a brief reply to my feedback discussing whether the
feedback was useful, and if it assisted their learning.
5. After mathematics lessons, ask certain students to fill out a simple evaluation form
that gauges their desired feedback, and outlook on the effectiveness of the feedback
that I have provided.

My mentor suggested a variety of changes to my data collection for a variety of reasons.

There was no problem with using a journal – so this was upkept during my placement. My
mentor requested to simply incorporate looking at feedback, feedforward and questioning
into her standard form of lesson evaluations, and to use this instead of the proforma that I
designed and instead of a frequency checklist. I did not want to push my mentor to provide
feedback in a way she was not comfortable with, and felt that her incorporation in general
feedback would still provide me with effective information with my project. Furthermore, as
my mentor advised me to focus specifically on verbal feedback, I did not have students
respond to written feedback. Finally, my mentor questioned whether students would provide
me with valuable information regarding reflection on my feedback if it was written, so instead
over the final week of placement I interviewed each child to ascertain their opinion asking 3
questions: “How does my feedback help your learning in maths?”; "How does my
feedforward help your learning in maths?”; and “how does my questioning help your learning
in maths?”. It was my mentors opinion that I would be able to get more detailed answers
through interviews that via student written responses.

Data Results & Analysis

Pedagogical improvement:
To ascertain the frequency and quality of my feedback and questioning, I utilised my own
journal and my Mentor’s generalised verbal and written feedback (Appendix A), to which she
had taken care to record all forms of verbalised feedback that I used, to create a frequency
table and graph that shows my progress over the placement block:
 PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Table 1.1: Average use of feedback/questioning in a mathematics lesson.

Generalised Feedback Specific Feedback Feedforward Questioning

Week 1 5 1 5 6
Week 2 4 3 7 10
Week 3 2 5 8 14
Week 4 3 7 9 13
This chart shows a variety of
Chart 1: Average frequency of
improvements to my teaching
technique per lesson
practice. A general increase in all
35
areas shows I have been able to 30
reflect on my practice and 25
20
develop my skills in areas that I
15
have seen beneficial for student 10
learning. Furthermore, a large 5
0
increase in questioning has been
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
enabled by mentor teacher
Generalised Feedback Specific Feedback
advice and through discussions
Feedforward Questioning
with my critical friend. The chart
also shows a shift in proportions of feedback, with my feedback becoming more specific over
the placement.

Student opinion of teaching practices.

Through discussion with students (See Appendix Chart 2: How my feedback helps learning
14
B) I was able to gauge positive impacts of 12
10
utilising feedback, feedforward and questioning. I 8
6
asked students how each technique helped 4
2
learning and sorted responses. It was clear that 0
Know what Know what Encourages Targetted Doesn't
my students were able to use my feedback to you are to continue Motivation and Help
know how they were being successful, and what doing well doing therefore
relevant
to continue with for further success.
Chart 3: How my feedforward helps learning
Students seemed to desire feedforward
20 more than feedback, and many stated that
15
it was more beneficial. The main student
10
5 response was that my feedforward showed
0
Know what to Targetted and Good to have Encourages students what needed to be improved or
improve and therefore some criticism reflection on
worked on next time to be successful.
what to fix relevant behaviour
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Not surprisingly, student opinion showed many benefits to my use of questioning, including
encouraging metacognition, ensuring understanding, facilitating learning, developing self-
confidence and extending learners.
Chart 4: How my questioning facilitates student learning
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Gets us to check Encourages Assists Facilitates Develops self- Helps our brain
our work thinking and understanding learning confidence stretch
metacognition through
Reflection rephrasing

Focusing this inquiry project on effective feedback, feedforward and questioning has allowed
me to see first-hand benefits to the techniques and to incorporate them effectively into my
everyday practice. Having this focus ensured I was able to strive for feedback and
feedforward that was more specific, targeted, timely and therefore useful to my students
(Elawar & Corno 1985, p. 162). Having been guided by my mentor to include questioning as
a form of ‘feedback’ showed me the multiple benefits of the technique to facilitate learning
and understanding and develop skills and knowledges (Wiliam 2014, p. 16).

Utilising mentor verbal and written feedback, journals and self-reflection has allowed me to
consistently aim to improve how I give feedback, feedforward or use questioning, and in turn
develop these to be more effective and frequent. Interviewing students has been particularly
beneficial, as I have been able to see the primary impacts as the students perceive them,
and have been able to use this to inform practice, facilitate learning and strive for effective
pedagogy.

I will continue to strive to improve how I use feedback, feedforward and questioning in my
classroom, as there is always room for improvement. I feel that I have really developed how I
use questioning, but can further improve the specificity of my feedback and feedforward to
encourage learning.

Conclusion
Working on this Professional Inquiry Project over the past 6 weeks has enabled me to fine
tune how I utilise feedback, feedforward and questioning in my teaching practice, and has
enabled me to facilitate learning and improve outcomes for my students. Through self-
reflection, as well as through teacher and student feedback, I have been able to see the
benefits of these techniques and will continue to develop my skills concerning their use,
ensuring my feedback, feedforward and questioning are specific and targeted.
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

References

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2018, Mathematics, Australian

Curriculum, viewed 5th August 2018,
<http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/mathematics/curriculum/f-10?layout=1#level6>.

Bartlett, T 2018, School Context Statement, Department for Education and Child
Development, viewed 15 July 2018, <http://www.h*********ps.sa.edu.au/wp-
content/uploads/SchoolContextStatementaug2018.pdf>.

Chin, C 2007, ‘Classroom interaction in science: Teacher questioning and feedback to

students’ responses’, International Journal of Science Education, vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 1315-
1346.

Dinham, S 2008, ‘Powerful teacher feedback’, Synergy, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 35-38.

Elawar, M & Corno, L 1985, ‘A factorial experiment in teachers’ written feedback on student
homework: Changing teacher behaviour a little rather than a lot’, Journal of Educational
Psychology, vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 162-173.

Erdogan, I and Campbell, T 2008, ‘Teacher questioning and interaction patterns in

classrooms facilitated with differing levels of constructivist teaching practices’, International
Journal of Science Education, vol. 30, no. 14, pp. 1891-1914.

Ferris, D, Pezone, S, Tade, C & Tinti, S 1997, ‘Teacher commentary on student writing:
descriptions and implications’, Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 155–
182.

Grundy, S 1995, Action research as professional development, Innovative Links Project,

Western Australia.

Hattie, J 2011, Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning, Routledge,
London, UK.

Hyland, F 2003, ‘Focusing on form: student engagement with teacher feedback”, System,
vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 217-230.

McTighe, J and O’Connor, K 2005, ‘Seven practices for effective learning’, Educational
Leadership, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 10-17.

Nugrahenny 2007, ‘Teacher and student attitudes toward teacher feedback’, RELC Journal,
vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 38-52.

Shultz, P, Teacher as Inquirer: A Story from the Field, lecture recording, date unknown,
University of South Australia, viewed 20 July 2018,
<https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/helixmedia/view.php?id=1258846>.

Skipper, Y and Douglas, K 2012, ‘Is no praise good praise? Effects of positive feedback on
children’s and university students’ responses to subsequent failures’, British Journal of
Educational Psychology, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 327-339.
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Smyth, J 1989, ‘Developing and sustaining critical reflection in teacher education’, Journal of
Teacher Education, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 2-9

Sullivan, C 2003, Questions worth asking, The Brighton & Hove Assessment for Learning
Project, viewed 13 September 2018,
<http://www.rtuni.org/uploads/docs/Questions%20worth%20asking.pdf>.

Wiliam, D 2014, ‘The right questions, the right way’, Using Assessments Thoughtfully, vol.
71, no. 6, pp. 16-19
PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Appendix A – Examples of Generalised Teacher Feedback

PIP Findings Professional Experience 4 Toby Paterson 110145441

Appendix B – Example of Interview results with student