How to Give Feedback That Supports Innovative Learning

What if setbacks were leveraged as runways for prompting new, more informed approaches that allow childrens’ ideas to take flight? As student assessment methods have evolved over time, so must our strategies for providing impactful feedback that can be used as a catalyst for innovative learning. From thinking creatively among peers to reframing mistakes as useful data, winning frameworks for feedback invite students to stay persistent in their pursuit of knowledge and skill refinement.

Can you spot the difference between feedback that empowers versus inhibits creativity and innovation? Keep reading to find tips to enhance your practice of providing feedback that guides students to be confident and creative problem solvers.

Encourage a Growth Mindset

Developing a growth mindset is essential to supporting student confidence and long-term academic success. Whether it’s highlighting the power of “yet” by trusting that growth is in process or reframing learning as a continuous journey versus a destination — encouraging students to find new ways of approaching challenges and celebrating small wins along the way is important to building their confidence to ideate, create and iterate.

By focusing on incremental improvements, students begin to recognize how their efforts help them get one step closer to achieving their goals. For example, many students benefit from educators acknowledging when they self-correct a mistake along the way; the awareness of the value of this practice encourages its usage. In addition, guiding them to reframe perceived failure as an opportunity to try something in a different manner — whether it be substituting new materials or looking at the challenge in a different way — can be a helpful reinforcement. As educators share actionable insights, students can better visualize a tangible path to achievement. When students see feedback as helpful information rather than judgment or evaluation, their creative and innovative thinking has a greater opportunity to flourish.

Educators who have implemented National Inventors Hall of Fame^® education programs have seen firsthand how the process of invention can help students develop a growth mindset. Through hands-on invention, these enriching programs lead learners to build the I Can Invent^® Mindset, which equips them to become confident creative problem solvers and overcome challenges with perseverance. Inspired to see themselves as innovators, students often are pleasantly surprised to learn how much they share in common with world-changing National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees.

“Perseverance is the one thing that makes the difference. You don’t fail until you give up.”
— Hall of Fame Inductee Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker^®

Provide Process-Oriented Feedback

In a world where kids often feel the pressure of being right or wrong, marks of red ink can be discouraging. Innovative learning is tied to how students ideate, experiment, take healthy risks, modify their approaches and then launch their ideas. Providing feedback that encourages reflection rather than correction, educators can help students examine their own processes and add value to their learning experiences, often prompting helpful metacognition.

One way to help students see the importance of reevaluating their processes is to introduce inventors as role models. Through the invention process, these creators brainstorm, design, test and refine their ideas — often many times over — in their efforts to reach successful outcomes.

By providing feedback that helps students reflect on the steps they’ve taken to arrive at an answer, regardless of whether that answer is correct, process-oriented feedback supports innovative learning by emphasizing effort, uncovering techniques and strategy, and most importantly, focusing on improvement over ability.

“Everything must start somewhere. It’s important to have confidence in yourself throughout the creative process, because that confidence helps you make anything you want."
— Hall of Fame Inductee Polly Smith, co-inventor of the sports bra

Facilitate Peer Feedback

Creating opportunities for peer feedback is a powerful way to facilitate authentic and innovative learning. As students strengthen their communication skills and practice responding with thoughtful and constructive suggestions, collaborative learning environments give students the opportunity to exchange candid ideas, consider others’ perspectives and respond to peer feedback.

Educators can set students up for success by modeling feedback that is kind, constructive and tied to specific learning objectives. It also can be helpful to provide students with sentence starters, such as “I wonder…” or “How might you…?” to guide them toward delivering thoughtful feedback.

After receiving helpful comments from their peers, students can connect feedback to their goals, integrate new insights and even make a plan to collaborate.

“No individual knows everything. But if you can talk to someone with a complementary expertise and you put your thoughts together, you each have a piece of the puzzle […] and  you have an answer that neither one of you, alone, could do.”
— Hall of Fame Inductee James Wynne, co-inventor of excimer laser surgery

Keep The Learning Going

Effective feedback is a key aspect of innovative learning that fosters experiences where students see the value in their ideas and the potential for where they can take them. To learn more about how educators are meeting evolving student needs, continue exploring our blog for the latest educator insights.