Clickers 1: Peer Instruction with Clickers

CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOPS:
CLICKERS 1:
INTRODUCTION TO PEER
INSTRUCTION WITH CLICKERS
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
resources: http://tinyurl.com/Clickers1Sp2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Center Hall, Room 316

We know How People Learn
Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers2
…and what that means for teaching [1]:
1. Teachers must draw out and work with the pre-
existing understanding that their students bring with
them. Classrooms must be learner centered.
2. Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth,
providing many examples in which the same concept
is at work and providing a firm foundation of
factual knowledge.
3. The teaching of metacognitive (“thinking about
thinking”) skills should be integrated into the
curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

student-centered instructiontraditional lecture

peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction

Typical episode of peer instruction
Alternating with 10-15 minute mini-lectures,
1. Instructor poses a conceptually-challenging,
multiple-choice question.
2. Students think about question on their own.
3. Students vote for an answer using clickers,
smart phones, colored/ABCD voting cards,
Poll Everywhere,…
4. The instructor reacts, based on the
distribution of votes.

Let’s try it…
 Don’t get (too) distracted by the content of the
questions: this is not a test of your knowledge!
 Try to be aware of how the peer instruction is
“choreographed” – we’ll talk lots about it
afterwards

Astronomy class
We’re in an astronomy service course. We’ve just
finished a worksheet on the phases of the Moon.

Clicker question
This is the phase of the Moon when it rises:
What is the phase of the Moon 12 hours later?
(Adapted from Ed Prather)
A B
D
C
E

Clicker choreography
Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers
To be effective, the instructor needs to run the peer
instruction in a way that gives students sufficient time to
think about, discuss and resolve the concepts.
We want students to focus all of their precious cognitive
load on the concept. We don’t want them wasting any
of it wondering, “What am I supposed to do now?”
9

1. Present the question. Don’t read it aloud.
Reasons for not reading the question aloud:
• your voice may give away key features or even
the answer
• you might read the question you hoped to ask, not
the words that are actually there
• the students are not listening anyway – they’re
trying to read it themselves and your voice may, in
fact, distract them
10

2. “Please answer this on your own.”
Goals of the first, solo vote:
• get the students to commit to a choice in their own minds
• get the students to commit to a choice so they’ll be
curious about the answer
• get the students prepared to have a discussion with their
peers
If they discuss the question right away:
• students are making choices based on someone else’s
reasoning
• those students cannot contribute to the peer instruction as
they have no ideas of their own
11

2. “Please answer this on your own.”
Students may be reluctant to quietly think on their
own. After all, they have a better chance of picking
the right choice after talking to their friends.
If you’re going to impose a certain behaviour on the
students, getting their “buy-in” is critical. Explain to
them why the solo vote is so important. Explain it to
them early in the term and remind them when they
start drifting to immediate discussions.
www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/SEI_video.html
12

3. Don’t start the i>clicker poll. Instead give the
students sufficient time to make a choice. What is
sufficient?
• Turn to the screen, read and answer the question as if
you are one of your students.
• Another possibility: keep facing the class, watching
for confused stares and/or and satisfied smiles.
• Another possibility: model how to think about the
question by “acting it out.”
• When you notice students picking up their clickers and
getting restless, they are prepared to vote.
13

4. When you have made a choice or when you see the
class getting restless, ask the students, “Do you need
more time?”
5. “Yes!” Give them a few more seconds.
“[silence]” Ask them to prepare to vote.
If many students are not ready to vote, they will not
have committed to a choice and will be unprepared to
discuss the question.
Some students may be uncomfortable asking for more
time. Make it clear, from the first class, that you’ll
honour the request with no repercussions.
14

6a. Open the poll, “Please vote.”
If you’ve given them sufficient time to commit to a
choice, the voting should take very little time.
15

6b. Prepare to close the poll
When almost all the votes are in, say, “Final votes,
please, in 5…4…3…2…1…Thank-you!” and close
the poll.
Don’t wait for every last student to vote. Some may
be choosing not to vote.
16

7. Initiate small group discussions: “Please turn to your
neighbors and convince them you’re right.”
Don’t display the histogram: if the students see it, they
tend to pick the popular choice on the 2nd vote even if
it’s not the answer they feel is correct: “lemming effect”
Students may not know how to “discuss” the question so
give them direction: “…convince them you’re right.”
17

8. Wander around the room, listening to the
conversations.
o Avoid joining conversations – this is their time to
talk, not yours.
o Listen for misconceptions, places where students get
stuck – these nuggets of student thinking are your
source for improving the questions, clarifying the
questions, etc.
18

9. When it starts to get quiet and/or you notice
students starting to disengage or talk about other
things, collect the 2nd vote:
“Group vote, please!” Start the poll.
“Last call on the group vote [pause 10 seconds] in
5…4…3…2…1…thank-you!” Stop the poll.
19

10a. Now you can display the histogram – this is the
signal to the students that a discussion is about to
begin.
Depending on their votes, you have several
choices for sparking the discussion…
20

10b. Correct answer is the clear
winner.
Ok, well done, B is correct but…
 why might A be tempting?
 why might someone think it could be E?
 could someone explain why D is wrong?
 (possible follow-up question)
How would be change the question so that A is right?
21

10b. No clear winner.
Ok, this was a harder one, we
need to look at all the options…
 what reasoning would someone use for A (repeat for
all popular choices)
 if you changed your vote, what did you discuss in your
group?
22

10b. If you’re not sure what to do, you’re never wrong
asking,
What did your group talk about?
23

11. At the end, confirm the answer(s) and continue with
the class.
Even if more than 80–90% of the students have
picked the correct choice, some students may still not
sure why that choice is correct.
Briefly confirm the correct choice:
• explain why the right answer is right
• explain why wrong answers are wrong
• allows students who chose the right answer to
make sure they had the correct reasoning
24

In effective peer instruction
 students teach each other while
they may still hold or remember
their novice preconceptions
 students discuss the concepts in their
own (novice) language
 the instructor finds out what the students know (and
don’t know) and reacts, building on their initial
understanding and preconceptions.
students learn
and practice
how to think,
communicate
like experts
25

Effective peer instruction requires
1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions
2. creating multiple-choice questions that
require deeper thinking and learning
3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that
spark student discussion
4. resolving the misconceptions
before
class
during
class
last week
today

Resources
1. National Research Council. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and
School: Expanded Edition. J.D. Bransford, A.L Brown & R.R. Cocking
(Eds.),Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2000.
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9853&page=1
2. Peer instruction resources from the Carl Wieman Science Education
Initiative at the Univ. of British Columbia :
http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm
3. Videos by the Science Education Initiative at the Univ. of Colorado
(Boulder) provide excellent background for using clickers:
http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/SEI_video.html
4. Peer Instruction network blog.peerinstruction.net

Clickers 1: Peer Instruction with Clickers

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