Abstract:

A gallery walk (GW) is an instructional strategy that fosters students’ communication and peer assessment skills. Based on challenging tasks, the GW involves collaborative problem solving and presentation of the solution process(es) in a poster format, which is displayed in or outside the classroom. Resembling an exhibit of paintings in an art gallery, students move around the posters, analyze their contents, and comment them on various aspects, such as the comprehensiveness and clarity of the solution and the aesthetics of the poster. Drawing on the feedback received by the “visitors” of the gallery, the authors of the posters reflect on their work, and participate in a discussion with the whole class.

Preservice teachers (PSTs) should engage in learning experiences that resemble those they are called to develop with their students in their future classrooms. In particular, it is important that they experience formative assessment practices and that they understand its role in promoting student learning. The GW allows for these aims. Firstly, PSTs engage in problem solving activities, which should be at the core of the curriculum. Secondly, PSTs engage in productive classroom discussions, which contribute to students’ meaningful learning. Thirdly, PSTs engage in formative assessment practices, such as peer feedback, which may be more effective than the feedback offered by the instructor.

I challenged my mathematics PSTs (working towards certification for grades 7th through 12th; pupils aged 12 to 17 years-old) to engage in a GW, a required assignment of a Didactics of Mathematics course, which I taught at a large, urban university, in northern Portugal. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all universities in Portugal were locked down by mid March, and classes resorted to digital mode in a sudden manner. So did the GW!

In this paper, I share the results of an exploratory qualitative research, in which I seek to understand the role of peer feedback within a GW in digital mode. In particular, I investigate how the comments provided by the PSTs to each others’ posters contribute to improving their skills in communicating their mathematical reasoning.

Nine PSTs engaged in a GW, based on a set of four problems, which elicited different approaches and strategies. As the PSTs were constructing their posters, the country went through an emergency state, and the GW turned to digital mode. The PSTs finished their posters at distance, and they shared the posters and gave feedback to one another in the course moodle platform. Some comments focused on the aesthetics of the poster, but most offered ideas to improve the clarity of the reasoning followed to solve the problems, making specific suggestions and raising questions.

The effects of peer feedback were made visible in the 2,5-hour long collective discussion which followed the peer feedback process, and in the online questionnaire posted at the end of the experience. The collective discussion was set up via zoom and it was audio-recorded. The questionnaire was provided via the course moodle platform. Almost all pairs/groups were able to understand the feedback received from peers and use it to reflect on their own work. A few needed the collective discussion to better understand their peers’ ideas. In some instances, they disagreed from the feedback; yet, in general, the PSTs agreed with the comments, critiques, and suggestions made by their peers to improve their written productions.

Keywords:

Gallery walk, preservice teacher education, mathematics, peer feedback.