PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF AUDIENCE RESPONSE SYSTEM USE FOR CONCEPTEST EVALUATION IN LARGE-LECTURE INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY CLASSES
http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/conceptests/index.html
During Spring 2009 semester, a plate-tectonics conceptest question concerning the number of tectonic plates in map view was initially shown to 71 students; 30.5% answered correctly via ARS. After peer discussion, the same plate tectonics conceptest question was presented again; 54% answered correctly. Immediately after viewing a histogram of student responses for the second question, a third, similar conceptest question was posed. Individuals responded with 91.5% accuracy for the third question.
Administration of 3 earthquake conceptest questions generated the same trend; student accuracy percentages increased from 39% to 86%.
The average grades on the second of three exams during the first semester of ARS implementation showed 4% average improvement instead of an historical 4% drop in the average grade. Other exam grades were not significantly different.