Pair clicker questions with at-home follow-up reflections asking students to explain each statement¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article describes an instructional sequence in which targeted clicker questions are revisited on an end-of-week online homework assignment: the question is displayed verbatim with correct answers, and students are directed to "provide a separate ex- planation for why each of the four statements is true or false." This pairing gave students a retrieval-practice opportunity and let researchers examine how vote patterns related to underlying conceptions. The homework explanation was associated with better later exam performance across quartiles.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Students must have encountered the clicker question in class first, with instructor explanation of each statement after the second vote
• Each student receives one of the targeted questions and writes explanations addressing each statement

Constraints¶

• The study could not distinguish clicker participation from other class activities occurring that day, such as lecturing on the given topic
• Additional work is needed to identify clicker approaches that provide benefits for lower-performing students and for students who switch from incorrect to correct votes

Target Learners¶

• undergraduate life sciences majors in high-enrollment introductory biology courses

Target Learning Goals¶

• articulating and synthesizing conceptual understanding of targeted clicker questions
• reinforcing emerging conceptions through retrieval practice

Related Strategies¶

• Take Home_Practice_Sets

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Dana L. Kirkwood-Watts, Emily K. Bremers, Emily A. Robinson, Kathleen R. Brazeal, and Brian A. Couch. (2022). Revisiting Clickers: In-Class Questions Followed by At-Home Reflections Are Associated with Higher Student Performance on Related Exam Questions. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00038-22