Part 1 Writing abstracts
Either during lesson time or as a homework assignment, have your students write their own abstracts of around 100–200 words in length based on a science poster of their choosing (links below). Additionally, it is hoped that they will also have gained a deeper understanding of their chosen project during the relevant seminar presentation itself.
Part 2 Peer review
Once your students have written a first draft of their abstracts, you should divide the class up into pairs. These pairs should then read one another’s abstracts and provide each other with feedback. They can use analytical questions as an aid:
- How long is the abstract (no. words)?
- How is the text divided?
- Which aspects of the project are described?
- How is the text written? (formal conventions, first-person/other point of view, grammatical tense, etc.)
- What is good about the text?
- How could the text be improved?
Remind the students to be respectful and objective when providing feedback on each other’s work. You might like to provide some examples of constructive feedback and, if needed, also to help your students to strike the right tone and to know how to respond to constructive criticism in a positive way.
The initial analysis of their classmate’s abstract can be set as a homework assignment. After the students have received feedback from their classmate, you should allow them time to make adjustments to their text before submitting it to the responsible teacher for further grading and feedback.