Self-assessment via project-based learning

Today, my Statistics students were charged with applying their newly acquired hypothesis testing skills in a "real life situation." I typically roll out a new project like this one by outlining my expectations and through showing off several sample of previous students' work. A rubric accompanies each project so that students know how it will be "graded." A new layer I've added this year is requiring students to self-assess their work before they turn it in. So far, students have responded fairly well to the idea and seem to understand that the rubric is as much for "them" as it is for me. We've had several meaningful conversations focused on project-based learning and how a rubric should take the "mystery" out of the grade and expectations.

Below, you can read a more detailed description of this particular project.


The self-assessment piece typically happens the day students are asked to turn in or present their work. I decided to add a new component today by requiring my current students to look at a small sample of previous students' projects (before even beginning the planning process of their own project) and compare them to the rubric. Students were asked to choose the two sample projects they felt were done the best.

Here was the "student's choice." Neatness, readability, and ability to communicate the hypothesis test process were reasons given for its popularity.
It seemed like a nice "twist" to the culture of self-assessment I'm attempting to foster in my classroom. By allowing students to critically analyze others' work, I'm hoping it will carry over into their own work as well. This quasi-peer assessment exercise on the front end will hopefully help them see what "quality work" looks like in this context. I wanted to share this as a working example in my quest towards modeling self-assessment.