The impact of collaboration & feedback on science lab assessments in a mastery grading classroom

Abstract

Mastery grading classrooms prioritize student learning through a system that allows for assessment retakes and revisions until a predetermined benchmark is achieved. Students engage in remediation cycles where they relearn material and practice before reattempting the assessments. In our chemistry class, students struggle with revising chemistry labs in this mastery-based grading system. Students lack confidence or have significant gaps in understanding that prevent them in engaging in the revision process. This study looked at the effects of adding collaborative lab activities between initial and revised lab attempts. In the collaborative lab activities, students worked through similar problems to those assessed on the lab and provided one another peer feedback. Student surveys were collected pre-post unit as well as after every collaborative activity to determine how confidence to complete lab revisions changed. A random sample of students (n=12) were chosen across the sections based on first semester grades to complete interviews at the end of the unit. Scores for each lab on first attempt and after the lab revisions were analyzed. On three different labs within a stoichiometry unit, students showed significantly improved scores (p<0.05) between the initial attempt and revisions when peer collaboration was included. Lab scores improved but students felt their confidence did not seem to change significantly (p>0.05) over the course of the unit or with any specific collaborative activity. However, post-unit interviews showed that students enjoyed mastery grading classrooms and lab revisions more when peer feedback was embedded in the remediation cycle. Since the classroom culture and lab scores improved over the treatment unit, collaboration will continue within the mastery grading system.