Every teacher knows that the classroom environment is a great place to allow learners to “take the wheel” in learning. Peer formative assessment activities can give learners the power to learn more by being able to explain certain ideas themselves to their classmates.
 
This trend isn’t anything new exactly, and it's something that modern education is embracing wholeheartedly. It’s a win-win situation for everyone in education. After all, teachers are surprised to learn that learners are their own harshest critics. The truth is that they are far more discerning when it comes to assessing their own work than we could ever be.
 
So why not embrace this reality in our classes? Here are nine examples of student-led formative assessment in which learners can take the lead in place of the teacher for a unique learning experience. The idea is that kids tend to pay better attention to their peers at times, for truly engaged learning.

1. Testing Preview With a Buddy

In order to alleviate some anxiety about test taking, it’s helpful to give learners a test preview. They can buddy up with a partner to discuss all the answers for the test. Obviously, this isn’t graded, but it can help them learn from each other what holes they might have in their learning of a subject.

This kind of formative peer assessment is especially useful for math subjects, where one learner might be more proficient than the other. It can help them learn ideas faster.

2. Discussion Leader

When discussing a book or idea, it’s beneficial to have a learner lead the discussion at times. It's a great way to enhance a sense of responsibility for learning, aside from also developing leadership skills. The learner in charge can ask questions of the other learners that you as the teacher might not have thought of.

It can lead to a much more organic and riveting discussion when a learner is at the helm. They can come up with themes from the book exclusive to their thought process and engage their peers.

3. Brainstorming Solutions In Groups

Give the learners a problem to solve. Begin by dividing them into groups and have them pick a group leader and a transcriber. Next, have that person write down all the ideas the group comes up with for the solution. The leader will act as a moderator to make sure they are focusing on the task at hand and staying on the subject as much as possible.

4. Dress-Up Bio Day

This is one formative peer assessment concept that’s been around forever because it works so well. Have each learner read a summary of an autobiography or biography of their choice. Then they dress up as that person and present themselves to the class. It's a cool and creative confidence builder that really shakes things up.

The learning here happens through creativity and explaining the life of someone else in an easily understandable way. They are teaching the class about important historical figures so that everyone can understand their contribution to the world. You can even make it themed—for example, bios of “people who changed the world” is a great one.

5. The “Science Guy (or Gal)” Project

Have each learner present a simple science experiment to the class. They are essentially playing themselves as the “science guy or gal.” So “Jen The Science Gal” is going to demonstrate how a litmus paper test works, for example. Have each of the kids come up with their own simple experiments to show and explain to the class. A white lab coat they can wear makes this project even more fun.

6. Learner Conferences

More and more schools are letting the learners take charge on conference night. The goal of this formative assessment is to allow a more open discussion between learners and their parents. Student-led conferences mean they can bring their own special creative ideas for hosting to the table. These kinds of events end up being unique and enjoyable for everyone. It's another great way to assess learners' abilities while fostering a leadership mindset.

7. Surveys

In order to get learners excited about learning how to gather data and use it, assign a leader to take the survey. Then they can put together their results and present them to the class. It's easy enough for learners to use online resources to create the survey themselves. Here's a list of free survey building tools students can try out.

Surveys are a tried-and-true method for checking understanding. Encourage them to make the survey challenging enough so they are invested in seeing the results. Examples of engaging questions might be about what they want to learn next, or the best thing they learned in the previous lesson and why. Pie graphs and charts can also be made by the students from the findings in the survey.

8. Teacher For The Week

You can get the learners involved in this far in advance. Assign each learner a week where they get to act as the teacher for a set amount of time. It doesn't have to be very long, maybe 15 minutes at the most. They pick a concept or idea to show the class a little bit of each day for an entire week.

They get to plan their lessons in advance and prepare for their teaching week well ahead of time, so they can effectively explore an idea or concept. Be on hand to offer them insights on how best to do this.

9. Daily Current Events

Assign each child a day to report on current events in front of the class. You can make this like a newsroom by having the “reporter” sit at a desk in front of the class. Do this on an ongoing basis each week by assigning each student the day’s news the night before. That way they can get educated on newsworthy events to present to the class. Have them do 3-5 headlines each morning, to explain what's going on in the world today.

What formative peer assessment activities have you tried out with your classes?