There is a growing interest in the STEAM design education in elementary school as an instructional method to teach learners how to solve complex and diverse problems in our knowledge-based society. STEAM can be implemented in design education, which i...
There is a growing interest in the STEAM design education in elementary school as an instructional method to teach learners how to solve complex and diverse problems in our knowledge-based society. STEAM can be implemented in design education, which is the process of inspiration, ideation, and implementation based on diverse knowledge to solve the problems. Peer assessment is important in improving a design by reflecting on it and revising it. However, due to a lack of specific and practical guidelines for implementing peer assessment in STEAM design education, it has been repeatedly excluded from the STEAM design education in school. In addition, there is a lack of relevant research on peer assessment in elementary and secondary education due to concerns about students’ abilities to perform peer assessment.
The purpose of this study was to develop the instructional support strategies for peer assessment in the STEAM design education in the context of elementary school. The research questions addressed in the study were as follows: first, what are the instructional support strategies for peer assessment in the STEAM design education?; second, are the instructional support strategies for peer assessment in the STEAM design education internally valid?; and third, what are the instructor’s and learners’ responses about the instructional support strategies for peer assessment in the STEAM design education?
To address these questions, the design and development research method was adopted. The initial instructional support principles and strategies for peer assessment were developed based on a literature review. Then, the strategies were modified and supplemented with the expert reviews and the instructor’s and learners’ evaluation. Four experts in educational technology and three elementary school teachers conducted expert reviews, and a teacher and thirty students provided their responses.
As a result of the study, six principles and twenty six instructional support strategies for each step of peer assessment that an instructor can use in the STEAM design education for elementary school students were developed. The principles for peer assessment include familiarity, authenticity, usefulness, diversity, interactivity, and convergence. The instructional support strategies for each step of peer assessment developed from these principles are as follows: first, the planning step includes four instructional support strategies for peer assessment in planning time, strategies, tools, etc.; second, the pre-training step includes six strategies for learners to understand the peer assessment rubric and to prepare for an effective peer assessment; third, the peer assessment step includes thirteen strategies for creating an atmosphere, conducting and facilitating peer assessment, and helping learners give and receive peer assessment effectively; fourth, the reflection and revision step includes two strategies for reflecting on the received assessment and improving the design based on them; fifth, the synthesis step includes one strategy for sharing the peer assessment experience and providing instructor feedback.
The aforementioned instructional support strategies for peer assessment were applied in the classroom, and the instructor’s and the learners’ responses were analyzed. The participants perceived that the classes were helpful for learning. In particular, the participants responded that the three steps of effective advice and the learner support tool were helpful for giving effective feedback in the peer assessment step, and that the iterative reflections and revisions improved the quality of the design. However, the participants reported the need to improve communication between the assessor and the assessee and to minimize the relationship effect. To address these needs, the strategies for peer assessment in STEAM design education were revised carefully.
The results of the present study are meaningful in that they provide specific and practical strategies for peer assessment in the STEAM design education context and extend the research on peer assessment to elementary education context. By applying the instructional support strategies for peer assessment, the present study will contribute to the establishment of effective STEAM design education in elementary school.