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Credit should be given to: Stephanie Chasteen and the Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado, http://colorado.edu/sei

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Introduce yourself to your neighbor

• Discussion point: What are some features of effective multiple-choice questions?

Part 3. Writing Great Clicker Questions

Dr. Stefanie Mollborn

Sociology and Institute of Behavioral Science

University of Colorado Boulder

mollborn@colorado.edu

Adapted from slides by:

Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen

Physics Department & Science Ed. Initiative

University of Colorado – Boulder

Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Scince Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

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Challenges: QuestionsBest practices•Ask several times during lecture•Ask challenging, meaningful questions•What does this mean for non-STEM fields?

Various question types

1. Conceptual “one right answer” questions

2. Discussion “no one right answer” questions

3. Predict an outcome (e.g., of an experiment)

4. Survey questions / personal opinion / past experiences

5. Embed reasoning in answers (“Slower, because gravity is acting against it.” “Slower, because it loses energy to friction.”)

6. Use images as part of question or as answer choicesSee TEFA handout

Activity 2: Gallery Walk

Visit as many questions as you can. For each question:

• Try to think beyond the question content.

• What are some useful features of this question?

• What does and doesn’t work well about this question?

15 minutes

Aihofanz2010 on Wikimedia

Question-writing tips

• Don’t just use simple quiz questions; use questions at a variety of difficulty levels

• Use challenging questions that prompt discussion and emphasize reasoning

• Use tempting distracters (for ‘right answer’ questions)

• Think outside the box! Use a variety of question strategies and use questions at a variety of points in lecture.

See handout

Tips for ‘no right answer’ questions

• Mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories!

• Consider a wide variety of possible answers

• Catch-all “other” category for many question types

• Avoiding unclear or double-barreled questions

• Read question and answers out loud to yourself

Question Cycle: Before, During, and After Lecture9

Credit: Rosie Piller and Ian Beatty.

BEFORESetting up instruction

MotivateDiscoverPredict outcomeProvoke thinkingAssess prior knowledge

DURINGDeveloping knowledge

Check knowledgeApplicationAnalysisEvaluationSynthesisExercise skillElicit misconception

AFTER Assessing learning

Relate to big pictureDemonstrate successReview or recapExit poll Look at handout

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What makes a good clicker question?

clarity Students should waste no effort trying to figure out what’s being asked.

context Is this topic currently being covered in class?

connection to learning goals

Does the question make students do the right thing to demonstrate they grasp the concept.

distractors What do the “wrong” answers tell you about students’ thinking?

difficulty Is the question too trivial? too hard?stimulates thoughtful discussion

Will the question engage the students and spark thoughtful discussions?Is there potential for you to be “agile”?

Use questions at a variety of cognitive depths

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Do the questions you use intellectually

challenge your students or simply assess their factual knowledge?

handout

A tool to investigate this: Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain

Bloom’s Taxonomy

See handout with verbs

Activity 3: Write a Question

13Credit: Rosie Piller and Ian Beatty.

BEFORESetting up instruction

MotivateDiscoverPredict outcomeProvoke thinkingAssess prior knowledge

DURINGDeveloping knowledge

Check knowledgeApplicationAnalysisEvaluationSynthesisExercise skillElicit misconception

AFTER Assessing learning

Relate to big pictureDemonstrate successReview or recapExit poll

Write a draft question that accomplishes one of these goals

10 minutes

Handout

But…

The perfect question doesn’t solve all problems!

Action Plan

• Take a few minutes to write down your action plan to implement ideas you heard about in this part of the workshop.

• Email it to yourself!

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Thank you!

If you are staying for the Advanced Workshop, stay here.

Feel free to contact us with any questions!

If there is an evaluation, we should mention it here.