Student and feedback: Which type of feedback is preferable?

Abstract

This research: 1) made a comparison of genetic problem-solving ability among participants with different ability levels and different types of feedback and 2) studied the interaction of participant ability level and type of feedback with genetic problem-solving ability. Participants were 786 twelfth-grade students in the first semester of the 2017 academic year (May 2017-September 2017) from 7 schools in the Bangkok educational service area. The results revealed that: 1) the excellent group had the highest ability level   (M = 1.006, SD ¼ 0.411); 2) in the moderate group (M = 0.497, SD = 0.452) and poor group (M = -0.595, SD = 0.735) 2), participant ability level and type of feedback interacted with genetic problem-solving ability (F = 9.200, p = .000); and 3) simplified directive feedback was appropriate for the poor group because of their limited basic knowledge while the moderate and excellent groups who were equipped with better basic knowledge and comprehensive skills did well with worked example feedback.