Abstract:

The main results and methodology of an experience of peer-assessment are presented in this communication. The experience has been carried out with 4th-year-students of the Primary Education Degree of the Teacher Training School in the University of Extremadura (Spain). One of the main objectives of this experience was to check the performance of a rubric for the objective assessment of specific and transversal competences implied in the writing of a critical essay. A total of 118 students of the subject “knowledge of the natural environment in Primary Education” participated in the experience. A set of eight research articles dealing with “scientific literacy and the relationship science-technology-society” was provided to the students and each student was asked to read them and write a critical essay about the selected topic. The topic was strategically selected, since it supposes a key issue in the subject “knowledge of the natural environment in Primary Education”. At the same time, the students were also provided with a rubric, intended to be employed in the correction of the assays. The advantage of providing them with the rubric in advance is that they can prepare their assays aspiring to excellence. A deadline of two weeks was established to submit the essays through the subject virtual platform. Then, the teacher collected all the assays and a random 3-digits number was assigned to each of them after deleting the author’s name. Later, the teacher organized six different sessions of one hour and about twenty students attended to each one of them. In those sessions, assays were randomly distributed and peer assessment was carried out. Each assay was corrected at least by two students and by the professor, following the same rubric. Statistical analysis of the obtained results confirms the affectivity of the elaborated rubric. Also, the opinion of the students about the experience was collected through a survey and in general they evaluated it positively.

Keywords:

Peer-assessment, Rubric, Science teaching.