An investigation of the effects of peer feedback on cognitive understanding during game play situations in a 7th grade volleyball unit

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if peer feedback during game situations affected the cognitive understanding of concepts during a volleyball unit in Physical Education. Physical Education can be an incredibly valuable course in a student’s educational career. Research about peer feedback and cognitive understanding have been conducted within various content areas of education, however there is a limit to the results as they apply to the physical education discipline. The participants were broken into two groups balanced on skill, knowledge and experience with volleyball. Both groups received the same skill work before game play started in the volleyball unit. When game play started, both groups received teaching cards, but the cards were different with the experimental group receiving peer feedback specific information. There was an overall change in post test average scores between the control group and experimental group. The experimental group average post test score was 6.53, an improvement of 0.86. The control group average post test score was 4.64, a decrease of 0.22.