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Clickers in the Science Classroom: How to Use Clickers Effectively

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Getting your students to talk to each other

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about the things they are learning

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can completely change the atmosphere in your classroom.

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Tools like these clickers can help get your students excited

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and engaged like you've never seen before.

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Student: I love clickers.

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Student: I definitely feel more involved when a class uses clickers.

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Narrator: But this isn't automatic.

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Clickers won't promote class participation on their own.

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In this video, we take a closer look at how an instructor can use a clicker effectively.

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You might be wondering...

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(Asking the Question) How do you write a good, challenging, and conceptual question?

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(Peer Discussion) A question that will spur peer discussion?

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(The Vote) Then, how long do you let students chat before stopping the vote?

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(Wrap-up Discussion) How do we go about guiding students

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to understand the rationale behind an answer?

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(Moving On) And then what?

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How do we use this information to help guide our teaching?

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We're going to zoom in on each of these steps in this video.

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After all, it's not the clickers themselves, it's the "how" and "why"

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they're used that makes them effective.

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First and foremost, don't leave your students in the dark

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as to why you're using clickers.

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Margaret Asirvatham: The most important thing for a successful

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experience for both the students and the instructor

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is that everybody should buy into it.

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Douglas Duncan: So if you want your students to hate your use of clickers,

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fail to explain that it's a device to improve learning.

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They will assume that it's a device to track them,

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or to test them, and they will resent that.

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Narrator: OK, but how do you use clickers to help your students learn?

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Asking the Question

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The best questions aren't about simple recall.

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They're challenging and conceptual, and they'll help drive the lecture.

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Asirvatham: I think the greatest challenge for the instructor

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is to write meaningful questions.

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Duncan: There's a tendency to use questions which are not challenging enough.

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Maybe that's because we all feel good when 80 percent

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of the students give the right answer.

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Asirvatham: My personal philosophy is; the higher the level

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at which you challenge your students, they will

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rise to the occasion.

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Steven Pollock: It seems to make the class

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"hook" together much more nicely when the

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clicker questions are part of the lecture, rather than,

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"I'm done with something, let's see if you got it."

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It's not a quiz, it's part of the class.

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Maggie Hoffman: Clicker questions aren't helpful when I'm just

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repeating what the teacher has just given me.

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I like to have the questions progress the class,

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rather than just sort of regurgitation of what I've been told.

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Duncan: The best questions that I have to ask for peer discussion

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are questions that have come from the students themselves.

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Pollock: That's really where you want to zoom the clickers in on;

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something where it's not trivial, it's not memorization,

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it's an idea that they're struggling with.

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Carrie Weidner: A well-formulated clicker question

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should make you think, and it should

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make you address the concept at hand,

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but it shouldn't be too tedious or laughably simple,

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because that's just a waste of time.

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Peer Discussion

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Narrator: The power of clickers is that they can get students

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to articulate their reasoning, which in turn can help them

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make sense of the material.

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Ryan Freedle: I think I learn better when I talk

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to other people around me.

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There's something about debating, and in a sense,

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teaching other people when you think you've got the right answer

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or learning from other people when they've got the right answer

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that's really helpful in that learning process.

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Duncan: Students are learning more, and more deeply

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when they're figuring things out for themselves.

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Narrator: But what if students are reluctant to talk to each other?

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Many students aren't used to participating in class

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and you may have to show them that you're serious about this process.

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I often wander around my lecture halls,

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listening to student ideas, and asking questions.

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I let students know that this is what we do in class;

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discuss and debate ideas.

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Having your students talk to each other doesn't just help them learn,

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it also helps you as an instructor,

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to see how they're thinking about the material.

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Duncan: And I was never able to see inside my students' heads before.

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Peer discussion and clickers make your students' reasoning

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accessible to you.

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(Student discussion) "... gas and dust, to me, those signal new stars..." "Right."

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Narrator: Now you've got them all talking,

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so what do YOU do during this time?

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Duncan: One of the initial barriers to being comfortable

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with peer instruction is the strange feeling of

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standing in front of a classroom and not saying anything.

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Janet Casagrande: I think that circulating around

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the class and listening to what's going on can help

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you feel that, yes, they are on topic,

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and you haven't really given over the class.

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It's a different way of the students learning the information.

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Narrator: So, giving students the chance to talk to each other

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helps them learn, and gives you the opportunity to see

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how they're really thinking.

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The Vote

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Now you've got the room buzzing with debate.

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How long do you let them talk?

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Pollock: So, with the system that we're using, we get a count

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of how many students have clicked in.

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So, typically, when approximately 3/4 of the class

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has clicked in, to me, that's a bit of a signal to

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start wrapping things up.

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And I also say, "well, let's wrap this one up."

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(Classroom audio): "So, let's pull this together, and

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have a little discussion."

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Narrator: Typically, it's best to allow between two and five minutes

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for student discussion.

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Pollock: Sometimes it's the noise level in the room

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that's gone down, and it's clear the conversation is over.

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They have nothing left to say to each other,

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and I might as well end it.

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Wrap Up Discussion

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Narrator: All right, so the results are in.

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So how do you go about talking with the whole class about the question?

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Jonathan Greany: I think the more that a teacher will

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facilitate conversation after the clicker question has ended,

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the more effective it is.

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Christina Jones: After all the votes are in for a clicker question,

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I really like it when professors ask people to

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defend certain answers. So, they don't reveal

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what people voted on yet, and they don't

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say the right answer. It's really useful because

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you get to follow the thought process all the way through.

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Pollock: I might say to the class,

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(Classroom audio) "So, irrespective of whether you voted this,

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I would really like to know WHY you think somebody might

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reasonably vote 'E'".

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And this has changed what it means to respond.

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It doesn't mean you believe it, it means

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that you're actually a good student for coming up with an incorrect reason.

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Caryn Burnett: The best part, I think, is when they go over

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why the wrong answers are wrong.

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You know, you think it's answer 'A', you really think

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that that's why... you've got a reason why you chose answer 'A,'

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and they're like "Oh, OK, so the answer is 'C'. Moving on..."

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And you're like, well, I don't understand why my answer was wrong.

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One of the best ways to learn is making a mistake or

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doing the wrong thing and learning why that was wrong.

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Narrator: Well, what about the histogram of student responses?

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Asirvatham: For the students, I think what is most rewarding

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is the feedback that they receive when the histogram

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is projected in real-time.

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Narrator: But when do you show this to the students?

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This prompt feedback helps students learn from their mistakes.

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But you can choose whether to show the histogram

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to the students immediately, or wait until after

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you talk about the question.

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This is an important part of the clicker question,

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and it depends on how the students voted.

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Pollock: So when I have the histogram,

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there's many different outcomes.

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And the most common one is, it's 90% correct.

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Narrator: In this case, there are pros and cons to

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showing the histogram before having a whole-class discussion.

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Either way, it's important to discuss the answer before moving on.

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(In-class audio): "Let's take a look at this,

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so there's a pretty strong agreement on 'E', 'None of the above,'

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but I got some B's and C's, umm...

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'B' is very tempting. I like 'B'.

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What's wrong with 'B'?" (inaudible) "Pardon?"

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(inaudible) "It's not you, its' big 'R'. It's just notational convention..."

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Asirvatham: As I've talked to students, they always come back

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and tell me they appreciate the fact that we still

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talk about the correct process, even when over 90% of the

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students got the right answer.

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I think that's important for instructors to know.

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Narrator: What if about 70% of the students got it right?

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What might you do then?

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Pollock: If it's 70/30, you know, you look at that histogram

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and you sort of think, "Oh, they all got it."

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But they sure as heck didn't.

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A third of the class did not get that question.

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That would probably be a time when I might not show the histogram.

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Keeping it hidden allows you to say,

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Who can tell me a reason for 'B'?"

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And if you're voting 'B', and it's wrong, you don't know

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that you're in the minority yet, and so you might get that voice.

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Narrator: So the histogram is particularly important

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when the student votes are NOT unanimous.

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Sometimes the class will be really divided on a question.

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(Classroom audio) "There is a mixed vote."

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Narrator: Showing the histogram here can be really powerful,

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as long as you don't take the first right answer, and move on.

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Pollock: If it's 50/50, it's brilliant.

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You show the histogram, because that gets everybody excited.

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Now there's a debate in the room, and we have to resolve it.

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And I try very hard not to be the "resolver."

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So, if it's 50/50, we've gotta hear voices, and

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we've gotta let the students decide.

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Duncan: So, I'll typically call on someone who gave a wrong answer,

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and let them speak first, and then

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call on someone who gave a correct answer,

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and let them articulate their reasoning.

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And them maybe turn to the class and say,

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"So, what do you think about these two arguments?"

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And then I'll wrap the whole discussion up myself,

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and say "This is the reason I favor the correct answer."

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(Classroom audio): "....the Milky Way, and that's a good analogy, because, it is."

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Narrator: So, you'll have very different kinds of

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wrap-up discussion depending on how the students voted.

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Then what?

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Moving On

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Clicker questions give valuable feedback to you, and your students.

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Marika Meertens: What I like most is that it gives me

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a chance to think about what I know and to test myself,

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independent of everybody else in the class.

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Janet Casagrande: I think the most powerful thing

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about using clickers in the classroom is

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the ability to instantly get feedback about what

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the students are thinking about the material

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and whether they're grasping the material.

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Narrator: Great. But then what?

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It may be tempting to use clickers as a quick check

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to see if your students are on-board and simply

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continue with your plans for the day.

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But they're not just a quiz.

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They can help you to determine how you might

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continue with your lecture.

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Jonathan Greany: When the histogram comes up

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and I do see a large variation,

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or even the majority choosing the wrong answer,

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it lets me know that I'm not the only one that's not getting it,

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it lets the teacher know,

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"Maybe I need to change my approach."

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Narrator: That's one reason why it's important to make

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the clickers count only as a trivial amount of the

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That helps the students take them seriously,

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but not stress about getting the right answer.

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Ryan Freedle: Use the clickers regularly,

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and use them in such a way that people really have to talk about it.

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Asirvatham: Don't ever take for granted that your

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students learned it the first time you presented it.

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Students need for us to go back and review concepts,

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to integrate it, put it in context, and

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the more we engage them as learners,

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I think they are also active participants in the process,

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which is what we all want.

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Narrator: Using clickers well will take some practice, but it's worth it.

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Be patient with yourself as you learn to use this new tool.

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Clickers are an effective tool, but they are no magic bullet.

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For videos on how to best use clickers, research results on clicker effectiveness, and other resources, visit http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu.

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English Subtitles: Stephanie Chasteen