Feedback that opens up thinking and discussion involves engaging with responses to questions and offering pupils opportunities to express themselves. Classrooms where effective interactive learning takes place are characterised by use of feedback to create a conversational environment. This research digest outlines some practical approaches to two-way feedback and open questioning, drawing on two school-based case studies.
Two-way feedback in the classroom
Two-way feedback involves a sustained and iterative cycle of information exchange, designed to help pupils and teachers refine and focus their contributions and make progress towards learning goals. The exchange during questions between pupils and teachers can help teachers evaluate the effectiveness of their support and refine their approach to helping pupils engage with both the content and process of learning (Coe et al., 2014). Making questions more explicit and visible enhances communication and helps create an environment where pupils feel comfortable in answering the teacher’s questions. The cumulative information exchange between teachers and pupils should have the effect of making the links between the teaching and learning activities, their purposes and the way they connect explicit; in so doing they make the teaching and the learning process visible and explicit to both partners.
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