The Benefits and Pitfalls of Learning With Classroom Clickers: A Large-Scale, Multidisciplinary, Empirical Study

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: Games, the World Wide Web, and Robots

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to conduct a highly controlled study of the effect of factual and conceptual clicker questions in live college classrooms, across multiple disciplines, on mastery of targeted factual and conceptual exam questions. In biology, which emphasized memorization more than conceptual understanding, factual clicker questions enhanced performance on factual exam questions. Clicker questions did not enhance performance on conceptual exam questions. In the physics class, which emphasized conceptual understanding and problem solving more than memorization, clicker questions did not enhance performance on either type of exam question. Factual clicker questions actually lowered performance on conceptual exam questions, however. The findings point to the importance of broader classroom context and activities in clicker-supported learning.

Authors

• Amy M. Shapiro, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Judith Eileen Sims-Knight, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Paul Capaldo, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Grant O'Rielly, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Teal Pedlow, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Leamarie Gordon, Tufts University

• Kristina Monteiro, University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth