Teaching Introductory Biology with Clickers Improves Student Learning
Abstract
‘Clickers' are now widely used in university classrooms and are thought to promote student learning. I tested whether using ‘clickers' in the classroom lead to an improvement in student learning as reflected by the students' exam grades. I compared student grades in an introductory biology class in two different years that I taught the course. Specifically, I compared exam grades from 2006 when students were not using ‘clickers' to exam grades from 2009 when all students were required to have ‘clickers'. The content of the course, the text book as well as the instructor were the same. The frequency and rigor of the exams were also comparable in the two years. In spite of this, students performed significantly better in 2009 compared to 2006. The average exam grade, increased by 8.5% overall from 2006 to 2009. This improvement is most likely because ‘clickers' enhance student engagement in the classroom.
Location
Concourse
Recommended Citation
Pai, Aditi, "Teaching Introductory Biology with Clickers Improves Student Learning " (2010). SoTL Commons Conference. 77.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2010/77
Teaching Introductory Biology with Clickers Improves Student Learning
Concourse
‘Clickers' are now widely used in university classrooms and are thought to promote student learning. I tested whether using ‘clickers' in the classroom lead to an improvement in student learning as reflected by the students' exam grades. I compared student grades in an introductory biology class in two different years that I taught the course. Specifically, I compared exam grades from 2006 when students were not using ‘clickers' to exam grades from 2009 when all students were required to have ‘clickers'. The content of the course, the text book as well as the instructor were the same. The frequency and rigor of the exams were also comparable in the two years. In spite of this, students performed significantly better in 2009 compared to 2006. The average exam grade, increased by 8.5% overall from 2006 to 2009. This improvement is most likely because ‘clickers' enhance student engagement in the classroom.
