Clickers 1: Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Spring 2013 Teaching and Learning Workshops: Clickers 1: Peer Instruction with Clickers April 30, 2013 Peter Newbury ctd.ucsd.edu CC-BY-NC

Transcript of Clickers 1: Peer Instruction with Clickers

Page 1: 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

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

resources: http://tinyurl.com/Clickers1Sp2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Center Hall, Room 316

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We know How People Learn

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…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.

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student-centered instruction traditional lecture

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peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

student-centered instruction

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Typical episode of peer instruction

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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.

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Let’s try it…

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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

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Astronomy class

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We’re in an astronomy service course. We’ve just

finished a worksheet on the phases of the Moon.

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Clicker question

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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

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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?”

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.”

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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.

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Clicker choreography

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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.

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Clicker choreography

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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…

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Clicker choreography

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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?

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Clicker choreography

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10b. If you’re not sure what to do, you’re never wrong

asking,

What did your group talk about?

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Clicker choreography

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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In effective peer instruction

Clickers 1: Introduction to Peer Instruction with Clickers

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

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Effective peer instruction requires

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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

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Resources

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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

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CTD WEEKLY WORKSHOPS:

CLICKERS 1:

INTRODUCTION TO PEER

INSTRUCTION WITH CLICKERS

Peter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd

resources: http://tinyurl.com/Clickers1Sp2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Center Hall, Room 316