Mini- Grant presentation for SUNY Ulster

1. Using clickers to
improve student
understanding
A mini grant project
Karen Helgers and Hope Windle

2. A BIG thank you to Hope Windle
For encouraging me to do this
For doing a good deal of the application
For helping with the research on how to
use clickers
For providing assistance every step of the
way

3. The Problem
Physical Geography:
The students
– Education majors
– Science-phobic
– Will need to teach
some science
– Few science class
requirements

4. The Problem, continued
The Class
– Little
participation
and
engagement
– How to
measure
understanding
BEFORE
exam?
(this does NOT happen!)

5. Potential Solution
• Individual Student Response Devices
• “CLICKERS”

6. How it Works

7. What’s the primary way you’d measure student
understanding while lecturing?
0% 1. Waiting for questions
0% 2. Searching for puzzled looks
0% 3. Pop Quiz
0% 4. “Show of hands” poll
0% 5. Other
0% 6. All of the above

8. In college, if a teacher took a poll, did
you raise your hand?
0% 1. Always
0% 2. Only if I was very sure of the answer
0% 3. Sometimes
0% 4. Rarely
0%
5. Never

9. If you didn’t answer “always,” why
not?
1. I was asleep
2. I was busy talking to
my friends and
resented the
interruption
3. I was unsure of the
answer and would
be embarrassed if I
0% 0% 0%
was wrong
1 2 3

10. My Plan
• Get 100% participation
• Use to measure student understanding
• Revise teaching accordingly

11. My Hope
From this
To this 

12. Research
• What do other professors do?
– Individual answers
– Group interaction
– Students helping students
• Used by other Science classes
• Testing helps learning

13. What types of questions work best?
My Findings:
• Questions to figure things out
• Review questions
• Breaking a concept down into smaller steps

15. Air that decreases in temperature will
1. Increase in volume
0%
2. Decrease in volume
0%

16. My Findings
• Students LOVE clickers!
• 100% participation
• Students willing to share their reasoning with
class, WRONG or RIGHT
– Wrong reasoning and misconceptions revealed
and corrected
• ASTOUNDING findings of understanding!!

17. Future Possibilities
• More questions in the PowerPoints
• Incorporate this into group work and other
activities
• Use for quizzes
• Track individual progress (not anonymous)