Tailor corrective feedback to children's age: use spoken, salient, scaffolded feedback for younger children and written, paper-based feedback only from age 8¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 review), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The review's tentative practice recommendation is that effective feedback for children ages 3-11 goes beyond verification to include the correct answer, is spoken or simple-visual, and is given immediately after each item. For younger children (3-7), content should be supplemented with prompts or explanations and made perceptually salient with audio or physical components; written and paper-based feedback should be reserved for children ages eight and older.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Feedback should be contingent on the child's response to a target task and provided by an instructor or instructional device

Constraints¶

• Strong tailoring recommendations are difficult because the literature is disconnected and some features were never studied in older children

Target Learners¶

• children ages 3-11 in preschool through Grade 6

Target Learning Goals¶

• improving literacy, mathematics, and problem-solving performance

Affordances¶

• Five Stage Model Feedback Processing

Claims¶

• Feedback features shift with age: scaffolds (prompts, audio, physical demonstrations) cluster in ages 3-7 while written and paper-based feedback appears only from age 8 [+W]
• Corrective feedback largely benefits children ages 3-11 relative to practice without feedback, with 93% of reviewed papers reporting at least one positive effect [+W]
• Positive feedback effects occur across the full age range 3-11, with no pattern of stronger effects in older children [+W]
• Feedback effects on children's learning are variable: 57% of papers reported at least one neutral or negative effect, especially on maintenance and transfer [~W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Fyfe Emily R., Borriello Giulia, Merrick Megan. (2023). A developmental perspective on feedback: How corrective feedback influences children's literacy, mathematics, and problem solving. Educational Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2022.2108426