STUDENT BEHAVIOR, ATTITUDES, AND LEARNING USING IN-CLASS QUESTIONS WITH “CLICKERS” VS. A SHOW OF HANDS IN A LARGE INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY COURSE

“Clickers” have become popular instructional tools promoting interaction in large lectures. Previous studies have focused on pedagogic issues and comparisons between traditional (non-interactive) lecture courses and highly interactive courses utilizing clicker technology; few comparisons have distinguished use of the technology from the interactive methods. Is it necessary (or advisable) to use clickers to facilitate interaction in a large lecture course? We investigated student behavior, attitudes, and learning in two sections of introductory geology in which most course elements were the same (instructor, classroom, lecture content, assessments, and in-class questions); one section used clickers to vote, and students voted via a show of hands in the other section. We evaluated the effect of each treatment on student behavior, attitudes, and learning by means of classroom observations, student surveys, and student interviews.

Students in the two sections did not differ significantly in normalized learning gains on a geology concept inventory, and characterized the nature and comparative difficulty of in-class questions very similarly. 78% of students in the clicker section report that they “always” answer in-class questions, as compared with 35% of nonclicker section students (supported by observation data). Most students in the clicker section indicated that being wrong in front of the instructor or other students was not important, these motivations were important in the nonclicker section. Students in the nonclicker section also indicated that “how other students vote” played a significant role in how they or other students voted on in-class questions, and were often observed to vote with the majority. Students in the clicker section viewed in-class questions as of significantly greater utility for their learning than students in the nonclicker section.

Using clickers appears to offer at least three distinct advantages over using a show of hands. Clickers allow students to vote anonymously, which has a significant positive impact on student motivation and voting behavior. If students are not honestly voting, the beneficial feedback loop between instructor and student is disrupted. Students prefer using clickers over show of hands and find using clickers more useful for their learning.