Structured Peer Feedback

It is difficult for teachers to provide individualized feedback to students learning math in the typical classroom of 20 to 25 students. Structured peer feedback, or peer tutoring, can provide students with more immediate feedback than would be available from a teacher, can enhance motivation for learning through the powerful influence of peers, and may heighten understanding by putting children in the position of having to explain or teach concepts to other children.

Several high quality studies have addressed the effects of structured peer feedback in mathematics education. As it turns out, not all forms of peer tutoring are created equal. In one study, 4th and 5th graders were assigned to work together in pairs to solve math problems in class. Children who were required to switch back and forth between the role of teacher and student, and children who were rewarded for the performance of both members of their team had much better math scores after 5 months than children whose rewards were based on their individual performance and who weren't required to switch systematically between the roles of teacher and student. Thus peer tutoring can be effective, but simply putting children together and asking them to help each other solve problems is not the way to go about it. The peer relationship has to be structured so that children reciprocate between teacher and learner roles, and so that children are rewarded for the performance of all the members of the team.