Ready, Set, React! Getting the most out of peer instruction with clickers

As we get settled, practice entering a word using your iclicker2:

What 3-letter word can you make from the letters

A, B, C, D, E?

READY, SET, REACT!

Clickers 2012, Chicago, October 24-25, 2012

click A – E button, to advance to 2nd character,

click A – E button, to advance to 3rd character,

click A – E button, to submit answer.

SEND

READY, SET, REACT!GETTING THE MOST OUT OF PEER INSTRUCTION WITH CLICKERSPeter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development,University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

#clickers2012 Cynthia HeinerDepartment of PhysicsFree University of Berlin, Germany

[email protected] 2012, Chicago, October 24-25, 2012

Clickers 2012: Ready, Set, React!3

Typical Peer Instruction Episode1. Instructor poses a conceptually-

challengingmultiple-choice question.

2. Students think about question on their own.

3. Students vote for an answer using clickers, coloured cards, ABCD voting cards,...

4. The instructor reacts, based on the distribution of votes.


In effective peer instruction students teach each other immediately,

while they may still hold or remembertheir novice misconceptions

students discuss the concepts in theirown language

the instructor finds out what the students know (and don’t know) and reacts

students learn and practice how to think, communicate like experts


Effective peer instruction requires1. identifying key concepts,

misconceptions2. creating multiple-choice questions

that require deeper thinking and learning

3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that spark student discussion

4. resolving the misconceptions

beforeclass

duringclass


Example Questions

Don’t concentrate only on the content of the example questions.

Watch the “choreography”, too.


A)

B)

C)

D)

E) all the same speed

Clicker questionThe amplitude and frequency of 4 light waves are shown. The waves are representative of one instant in time and are all travelling in vacuum. Which wave travels the fastest?


Clicker questionAre features X and Y ridges or valleys?A) X=ridge,

Y=valleyB) X=valley,

Y=ridgeC) both are

ridgesD)both are

valleys

X

Y

Clickers 2012: Ready, Set, React!

Clicker question

9

Three blocks are in a tank of water. Rank the densities of the blocks and the water from least dense to most dense. (Enter a 4-letter like ABCD and click SEND)

B

AC

D(water)


Clicker choreographyTo 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 participate without ever having to stop and think, “What am I supposed to do now?”


Clicker choreography1. 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


Clicker choreography2. “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 necessaryIf they discuss the question right way:

• 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


Clicker choreography2. “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


Clicker choreography3. 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, helping those with confused stares.

• 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.


Clicker choreography4. 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.


Clicker choreography6. “Please vote.”

If you’ve given them sufficient time to commit to a choice, the voting should take very little time.

Another option: watch the number of votes and when most of the votes are in say, “Can I have your final answers, please?”

Don’t wait for every last student to vote. Some may be choosing not to vote.


Clicker choreography7. Check distribution of votes on the

i>clicker receiver. Don’t show the histogram to the class (yet):

• if there is a popular choice, students are apt to choose it in a 2nd vote, without reasoning why.

• a student who picked an unpopular choice is unlikely to participate in peer or class discussion

You can motivate students without showing the histogram, e.g., by saying “there seem to be two popular answers”

The students’ behaviours will change when they see the histogram, probably not for the right reasons.


Clicker choreography8. Depending on the distribution of votes,

proceed.We’ll discuss reacting to various distribution scenarios in a few moments.


9. 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 are still not sure why that choice is correct.

Briefly confirm the correct choice:• explain why the correct choice is

correct• explain why popular distractors are

incorrect• allows those who chose the correct

answer to make sure they had the correct reasoning

Clicker choreography


Reacting to their votesYou don’t know what’s going to happen but you can anticipate and prepare yourself for the likely outcomes.

When you know the first-vote distribution (but they don’t) you have lots of options.

This is where you show your “agility.”


What do you think you should do with this first-vote distribution?

A. “Turn to your neighbours and convince them you’re right”

B. move on – everyone got itC. confirm correct answer and move onD. “Can someone who answered C tell us

why they made that choice?”E. other

A B C D E



A. “Turn to your neighbours and convince them you’re right”

B. confirm correct answer and move onC. “Can someone who answered B tell us

why they made that choice?”D. show the vote distributionE. other

A B C D E


A B C D E



What do you think you should do with this first-vote distribution?(C is not the correct answer)

A B C D E


A B C D E

What do you think you should do if this is the second-vote distribution?


Reacting to their votesWhen you know the first-vote distribution (but they don’t) there are many options. You can confirm and move on ask the students to discuss with their

peers ask students to advocate for the choices

they made check that the question made sense eliminate one or more choices before re-

voting and more...

This is where you show your agility.


Resourceswww.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htmlinks to collections of peer instruction questions

peerinstruction4cs.orgBeth Simon and Cynthia Lee, UCSDexcellent guide to what to do before term, on the first day, how to get student buy-in, and more.

CWSEI Eric Mazur(1996)

Derek Bruff(2009)

Doug Duncan(2004, 2005)

PRACTICE PEER INSTRUCTION QUESTIONS:PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, BIOLOGY

Clickers 2012: Ready, Set, React! 28


A ball is rolling around the inside of a circular track. The ball leaves the track at point P.

Which path does the ball follow?

P

AB

CD

E

Clicker question

(Mazur)


Clicker questionSuppose you pass white light through a prism and all of the colours of the spectrum are projected on a screen. If you then put a red filter over your eye and look at the spectrum, what colours do you see?

A) you see mostly red light; the blue and green disappears

B) you see mostly blue light; the other colours disappear

C) all of the colours turn red

(Duncan)


Clicker questionIf this is the phase of the Moon when it rises:

what is the phase of the Moon 12 hours later?

(Prather)

A B

D

C

E


Clicker questionSusan throws a ball straight up into the air. It goes up and then falls back into her hand 2 seconds later.

Draw a graph showing the velocity of the ball from the moment it leaves her hand until she catches it again.

time

velocity

2 sec0

(UBC CWSEI)


time

velocity

2 sec0

Atime

velocity

2 sec0

B

time

velocity

2 sec0

Ctime

velocity

2 sec0

D

E) some other graph

Which one is the closest match to your graph?

(UBC CWSEI)


Clicker questionJohn is walking to school. This graph shows his position as a function of time. When is John moving with the greatest velocity?

time

position

A B C D E (UBC CWSEI)


Clicker questionWhich of the following is an incorrect step when using the substitution method to evaluate the definite integral

A)

B)

(Bruff)

4

0

32 1 dxxx

31 xu

dxxdu 2

3 C) none of the above

4

03

1duu


Clicker questionTo minimize the work you do getting a heavy bag of groceries from the first floor to the second floor of a building, you should

A. carry the bag up the stairsB. carry the bag up in an elevatorC. put the bag on the floor of an elevator,

ride up with it, and then pick up the bag again

D. carry the bag up a rampE. put the bag in a cart and push it up a

ramp(Chasteen)


Clicker questionFor the data set displayed in the following histogram, which would be larger, the mean or the median?

A) meanB) medianC) can’t tell from the given histogram(Peck, mathquest.carroll.edu/resources.html)


Clicker questionAn ice cube is floating in a glass of water that is filled entirely to the brim. As the ice cube melts, the water level will

A) stay the same, remain at the brim.B) rise, causing the water to spill.C) fall to a level below the brim.D) cannot say without knowing the density

of ice.

(UBC CWSEI)


QuestionIf you lower a 1.5 kg mass on a string into a 5 kg beaker filled with water, what happens to the reading on the scale?

A) increases to 6.5 kgB) increases to a value < 6.5 kgC) increases to a value > 6.5 kgD) stay the same

(UBC CWSEI)


Demo: prediction

A. It will keep on coming out, flowing the same as before

B. It will keep coming out, but it will flow a bit slower than before

C. It will keep coming out, but start to flow upwards

D. It will keep coming out, flowing horizontally with the falling cup

E. It will stop flowing

A cup filled with water has a hole in the side through which the liquid is flowing out. If the cup is dropped for a height, what will happen to the water flowing from the cup?

(Heiner)


Consider a block of wood that has varying dimensions. Does the pressure exerted on the table from the block depend on the blocks position? If so, which way produces the greatest pressure? If not, why not?

D) The block of wood has the same density, so it doesn’t matter which way it is positioned.

E) The block of wood has the same mass, so it doesn’t matter which way it is positioned.

Clicker Question

A) B) C)

(Heiner)


The molecules making up the dry mass of wood that forms during the growth of a tree largely come from

a) sunlight.b) the air.c) the seed.d) the soil.

Question credit: Bill Wood


A) UGG B) GUG C) GUA D) UUC E) CAU

The figure shows a tRNA molecule that recognizes and binds a specific amino acid. Which codon on the mRNA strand codes for the amino acid?

Question credit: Pearson Education, Inc.


Clicker Question

How many of the following statements about selection are true?

Plants: During their lifetime, plants may experience many different sources of selection

Insects: Insects often experience a different type of selection as larvae than as adults

Birds: Birds can experience different directions of selection in different years

Mammals: Selection in mammals always operates more strongly on survival than on reproduction

A) 0 B) 1 C) 2 D) 3E) 4


Suppose that in the tree below new data were uncovered indicating that taxon E is sister to a group consisting of taxa D and F. Draw the new phylogeny.

Question


Answer A

Answer B

Answer C

a) b)

c)

Which one is the closest match to your phylogeny?

d) Some other phylogeny


PO2 in the lungs is typically about 100 mm Hg, while PO2 in resting muscles is about 40 mm Hg. Hemoglobin leaving the lungs is nearly saturated with O2. When that fully oxygenated hemoglobin arrives in capillaries near muscle tissue at rest, what percent of its O2 is released?

A. 10%B. 15%C. 30%D. 70%E. 85%

0 40 60 80 100200

40

60

80

100

20

P (mm Hg)O2

O2

satu

rati

on o

f hem

oglo

bin

(%

)

Question credit: Pearson Education, Inc.


Which point on the phylogenetic tree represents the closest relative of the frog?

Question

AB

CD

E


Which experiment will produce 18O2?

A. experiment 1B. experiment 2C. both

experimentsD. neither

Question

Experiment 1:

H218O + CO2

Experiment 2:

H2O +C18O2


Fill in the blanks. All the somatic cells in your body contain ______ DNA sequences and ______ proteins.

A. The same DNA sequences, the same proteins.

B. Different DNA sequences, different proteins.

C. The same DNA sequences, different proteins.

D. Different DNA sequences, the same proteins.

Question credit: CWSEI, SEI

Question


Suppose a plant has a photosynthetic pigment that makes the leaves appear to be reddish yellow. Which wavelengths of visible light are being absorbed by this pigment?

A) red and yellow

B) blue and violet

C) green and yellow

D) blue, green, and red

E) green, blue, and yellow


One of the somatic (i.e., not gametes) cells represented below is diploid. Which one?

Question

A. B.

C.

Question credit: Carol Pollock


If an organism makes an abnormal protein, the error that led to this abnormality most likely originated

A. during the replication of the corresponding gene

B. during transcription of the corresponding gene to make the corresponding mRNA

C. during translation of the corresponding mRNA to make the protein


Question


Draw a cell’s plasma membrane using circles and lines to represent the two “ends” of the phospholipids that comprise the membrane. Indicate the inside and outside of the cell with respect to the membrane.


Clicker Question

example phospholipid


Which of the following illustrations looks most like your own drawing?


A.

D.B.

C.

Outside of cell

Outside of cell

Inside of cell

Inside of cell

Outside of cell

Inside of cell

Outside of cell

Inside of cell

E. My drawing looks different

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Ready, Set, React! Getting the most out of peer instruction with clickers