Classroom response systems ("clickers") offer a powerful way to increase student engagement by going beyond simple quizzes. They provide an opportunity to gather real-time feedback on student understanding. If you are new to clickers or need fresh ideas for using clickers in the classroom, please join us as we explore best clicker practices and provide tips and suggestions for using clickers in your class and for writing great questions.

1. The Gentle Art of Questioning
Best Practices in Clicker Use
1
Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen
Science Education Initiative
Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
http://colorado.edu/sei
&
Dustin Jensen
i>clicker
Email: stephanie.chasteen@colorado.edu

2. Have you used response systems (clickers) in your
teaching?
Take a clicker & turn it on
If the green light flashes, your
vote has been counted
A. Not at all, and I haven’t seen them used
 Not at all, but I’ve observed their use somewhat
 I’ve used them a little
 I’ve used them some
 I could be (should be?) giving this workshop
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3. Why question?
Credit: Rosie Piller whiteboard
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4. Clickers are a tool for questioning
But not a magic bullet!
R em em b er :
Don’t confuse the pedagogy with the technology!
The perfect question doesn’t solve all problems!
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5. Collect Demographic Data
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6. Why Clickers?
y
t me…
’t fi tyl
ore esnng s
st m ?
Do chi
u
t’s j ology t ea
h, i chn
O te
ent
t ud …
o se s tion
e I’ll l terac
p e ns … in
r exdents
the stu uch
Anomy m
fo r oo l to
ve teria
I hamat er…
cov
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7. Are students paying attention to your lecture?
What is the typical attention span of a student while
listening to a lecture?
A B C D
15 30 45 60
minutes minutes minutes minutes
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8. Are you surprised?
Various studies show that after 10-20 minutes,
students’ minds begin to wander and retention of
information falls off dramatically.
Taking notes and asking questions
occupies only 49% of the students’
time during lecture;
the remainder is spent thinking
about people, time, body, and
fantasy.
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9. The need for clickers…
Reset the students clocks
Receive immediate feedback
Promotes participation and active learning
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10. Benefits of Clickers
 Get students participating
 Peer instruction  Identify student knowledge
 Clicker points  2 way communication tool
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11. Use clickers to emphasize important points
Students may not pay attention to what you feel is
important; they pay attention to what they think is
important.
VS.
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12. Should I give students clicker points?
Don’t make your class a stressful environment!
The learning process is enhanced when students
are not overly anxious to participate, so low-stakes
grading is advised.
Example:
.7 for participating
.3 for correct answer
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13. Know if your students are getting it!
If they aren’t, then the instructor can present the
information in an alternative way.
Don’t wait until you see poor grades on the exam.
University of New Mexico
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14. Why use clickers to ask questions?
 Similar goals to non-clicker
questions
 Anonymous (to peers)
 Every student has a voice – the
loud ones and the shy ones
 Forced wait time
What does this tool help
 You can withhold the answer us to do?
until everyone has had time to
think (choose when to show the
histogram)
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15. Best Practices
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16. What do students like least about clickers?
A. High stake questions
B. Only used on occasion
C. Used for attendance only
D. Seeing the same question types over and over
E. All of the above
A. Used for attendance only
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17. If you must take attendance…
Take attendance without your students knowing...
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18. What do students like most about using clickers?
A. Provides anonymity
B. Promotes participation and active learning
C. A way to earn extra points
D. Everyone has a voice (at least a clicker voice)
E. All of the above
B. Promotes participation and active learning
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19. University of New Mexico
Research shows that
fewer than half of 18-25
year olds learn
effectively by passively
listening to a lecture.
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20. How do students learn?
Most people learn by -
 actively engaging critical concepts,
 applying those concepts,
 and confronting their misconceptions about the subject
matter.
These actions are effectively done in lecture settings by
breaking up lecture time with “clicker questions.”
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21. Peer Instruction
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22. Why use clickers to target the class?
An outline of Peer Instruction.
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23. A quick outline of peer instruction
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24. Anatomy of Peer Instruction
Ask Question
…Lecture… (Maybe vote)
Class Discussion Peer Discussion
Vote
24 * See also: Peer Instruction, A User’s Manual. E. Mazur.

25. Peer Instruction
Given that a large tree
grows from a tiny seed,
where does most of the
mass of the solid
tissues in the tree come
from?
A. Water B. Dirt and Soil C. Air D. It’s already in the seed
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26. Peer Instruction Helps Students Learn
Research shows that:
 Students like peer instruction
 Students can better answer a similar question after
talking to their peers
 Peer discussion + instructor explanation works better
than either one alone
 Peer instruction outperforms traditional lectures on a
common test
See http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu for various references
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28. Burning questions?
Ask Question
…Lecture… (Maybe vote)
Class Discussion Peer Discussion
Vote
28 * See also: Peer Instruction, A User’s Manual. E. Mazur.

29. I think the toughest thing about using clickers
and peer instruction in class is / will be:
• Writing good questions
• Getting students to really think about the questions
• The same students always respond in whole class
discussion
• It takes too long / I have a lot of content to cover
• Something else

30. Focusing in on question-writing
Ask Question
…Lecture… (Maybe vote)
Class Discussion Peer Discussion
Vote
30 * See also: Peer Instruction, A User’s Manual. E. Mazur.

31. Some possible question goals
BEFORE
Setting up instruction DURING
Developing
E.g.: knowledge
Motivate Application
Assess prior knowledge Elicit misconception
… (handout!) …
AFTER Relate to big picture
Assessing Demonstrate success
learning
…
Credit: Rosie Piller and Ian Beatty.

32. Example question: Physics
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What is the goal of this question?
Which superpower would you When might you use it?
rather have? The ability to…
D.Change the mass of things
E.Change the charge of things
F.Change the magnetization of things
G.Change the boiling point of things
Question: Ian Beatty, UNC Greensboro Image: Thibault fr on
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Wikimedia

33. Example question: Literature
If Homer wrote the Iliad today, Stanley Fish and Harold
Bloom would argue, respectively, whether the work should
be categorized as:
C.Existential vs. Romantic What is the goal of this question?
D.Postmodern vs Classical When might you use it?
E.Modern vs Romantic
F.Postcolonial vs Modern
G.Preliterate vs Postliterate
The Technology Enhanced Learning and
Research center at Ohio State
Origin unknown
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34. Example question: Ethics
If you were a judge, how would you assess the “responsibility” of
the U.S. Government, for what happened in the world between
1933 and 1945?
C.Not responsible
D.Minimally responsible
E.Responsible
F.Very responsible
What is the goal of this question? What
is the level of this question?
Origin unknown
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35. Use questions at a variety of cognitive depth
Do the questions you use intellectually
challenge your students or simply assess their
factual knowledge?
Higher order
----------------
Lower order
handout
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36. Example question: English
The child apprized her father's authority and behaved
herself in church. Apprized means
C.Appreciated
D.Compromised
E.Defied
F. Noted
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37. Example question: Math
Your sister in law calls to say that she’s having twins. Which of
the following is the most likely? (Assume she’s having
fraternal, not identical, twins)
C. Twin boys
D. Twin girls
E. One girl and one boy
F. All are equally likely
Derek Bruff, Vanderbilt
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38. Question-writing tips
 Use questions with a variety of pedagogical goals
 Use questions at a mixture of cognitive depth
 Move away from simple quizzes: use questions that
prompt discussion
 Use questions that emphasize reasoning or process
 Ask challenging questions – don’t just test memorized
facts
 Focus on key learning goals – what do you want them
to know?
 Use clear wording
 Use tempting distracters See handout
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39. Effective multiple-choice questions have believable
“distracters.”
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1. Talking with other instructors that
have taught the course in the past.
2. Talking with your students one-on-
one before class, after class, during
office hours.
3. Using student responses to open-
ended questions that you include in
HW and exams.
4. Asking your students to come up with
answers that will be used as the
choices.
5. Use researched and documented
student misconceptions.
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D. Duncan, Univ. of Colorado

40. An example question
What causes the seasons?
A. The change in the earth’s distance from the sun
during the year
Bad question.
B. The tilt of the earths axis Students can
C. Changes in the sun’s brightness answer by
memorizing a
D. Changes in clouds word (“tilt”)
E. None of the above
Can we make a better question on the SAME topic?
Yes…
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41. Better seasons example
What would happen to the seasons if the earth’s
orbit around the sun was made a perfect circle (but
nothing else changed) ?
A. There would be no seasons
B. The seasons would remain pretty much as they
are today
C. Winter to spring would differ much less than now
D. Winter to spring would differ much more than
now
Much better question. Requires reasoning!
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42. Exercise: Try writing a question
r Individually, choose one of the question goals
5 min
(see handout)
o Write a draft question that aims to achieve
this goal. See the detailed “Bloom’s
Taxonomy” handout for helpful verbs.
Then…
1. Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy worksheet to rate the
Bloom’s level of your question
2. Swap your question with a neighbor. Do you agree on
the Bloom’s level of your question? Can you suggest
improvements?
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43. What was the Bloom’s level of your question?
A. Remembering
B. Understanding
C. Applying
D. Analyzing
E. Evaluating
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44. Share out
 What did you learn in this process?
 What worked well, what was challenging?
 How might you go about writing questions in your
class?
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45. Gallery Walk
 Look at the “example questions” sets on the
wall.
 What do these three questions have in
common? Jot any ideas down on the sheet.
 Might you use this type of question? When?
For what purpose?
10 minutes
Aihofanz2010 on Wikimedia
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46. Some question strategies to consider
 Use a series of questions Rather than a set of one-offs.
 Use real-life scenarios and current events for surveys
To keep lessons fresh and relevant
 Ask predictive questions
So students have a chance to weigh in first. More important for
understanding than recall questions, but used less often
 Use images in question choices
To give students a chance to connect words and visual/graphic
 Pose summarizing questions
To get students thinking about effects. Pose a series of outcomes
and vote on consequences
Sidney-Eve Matrix on the ActiveClass

47. But…
The perfect question doesn’t solve all problems!
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48. Some “best practices” and solutions
We’ll do these quickly
These are repeated in handouts
 Underlying philosophy to most of these “best
practices” are:
“It is important for students to discuss their ideas, to
feel safe doing so, and for the teacher to be aware of
those ideas”
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49. 1. Ask Question
What are some challenges/ things to consider when
posing a clicker question?
•Ask several times during lecture
•Ask challenging, meaningful questions
•Give time to read (read silently to self)
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49
Handout/worksheet / whiteboard

50. 2. Peer Discussion
• Students learn more deeply by
teaching each other
• Makes them articulate answer
• Lets you see inside their heads
Why is peer discussion
important? What are challenges /
how can you help make it work?
•Make it clear why you’re doing this
• Circulate and ask questions / model
•Use questions they want to discuss
•Allow enough time (2-5 mins)
•Focus on reasoning in wrap-up
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51. 3. Wrap-Up Discussion
Challenges?
What might you do to
facilitate an effective
wrap­up discussion?
•Establish culture of respect
•Consider whether to show the
histogram immediately
• Ask multiple students to defend their
answers
• Why are wrong answers wrong and
why right answer is right
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52. Student buy-in is key!
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53. Giving the answer stops student thinking!
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54. Action Plan
 Take a few minutes to write down your action plan to
implement ideas you heard about in the workshop
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55. Thank you!
Clicker resource page http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu
• Instructor’s Guide
• Question banks
• Workshops
• Literature / Articles
•Videos
Email me at stephanie.chasteen@colorado.edu
Handouts will be at http://blog.sciencegeekgirl.com
 Many materials in this workshop (particularly the questioning cycle and the participant exercises) were adapted from Rosie
Piller, Making Students Think: The Art of Questioning. Short papers published in: Computer Training & Support Conference,
1995; ISPI International Conferences, 1991 and 1996; ASTD National Conference on Technical & Skills Training, 1990. Related
workshop description at http://www.educationexperts.net/nstworkshop.html Other materials (particularly sample clicker
questions and goals of clicker questions) adapted from Ian Beatty’s Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment (TEFA)
program. http://ianbeatty.com/crs
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56. Learning Goals
 Biology: Recognize the components of a cell and describe
why each is necessary for the function of a cell
 Physics: Identify the different ways that light can interact
with an object (i.e., transmitted, absorbed, reflected).
 Chemistry: Explain trends in boiling points in terms of
intermolecular interactions
 Earth science: Understand the formation of the three major
types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) and
the processes by which they form, relating them by the rock
cycle.
 Math: Solve a system of linear equations in two variables
using algebra or graphing.
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57. What Do I do if…?
What can you do if you ask questions and..
 There is no response
 The same people keep raising their hands
 The answers are called out before everyone has a
chance to think
We’ll discuss in
 The answers take too long
Workshop #2.
 Someone gives a wrong answer For now: Many of
these challenges are
 Only some students are prepared addressed by clickers
?
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58. Other question types and methodologies
• Use a combination of simple and more complex
questions.
• The best questions focus on concepts that
involve challenging ideas that generate
discussion.
- Dr. Douglas Duncan University of Colorado
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59. Discover misconceptions
Dr. Stephen Ball
- University of Missouri - Columbia
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60. Women Only
Which body type to you think men are most attracted to?
A B C D E F
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61. Men Only
Which body type are you most attracted to?
A B C D E F
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62. Men Only
Which body type to you think women are most attracted to?
A B C D E F
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63. Women Only
Which body type are you most attracted to?
A B C D E F
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64. Debates and Discussion
In today’s world a ‘culture of death’ is gaining supremacy over a
‘culture of life.’
W
ty SA
of Du
l
Cal
to
w a ys
1000 die
io n
b ort
A
Utilize your demographic data
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65. Use clickers to build critical thinking skills
Gamze Yasar - Economics
Colorado State University
- 4 questions per lecture
- 2 questions are critical thinking questions - not graded
- 2 questions based on lecture - graded
Keep students involved all semester long - not just the first two
weeks.
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66. Should I give participation points only?
Dana Narter - Psychology
- University of Arizona
- Students may not make an effort to answer correctly if they are
awarded points for participation only.
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67. I want the truth, and nothing but the truth!!
Law - Criminal Justice - Med - Nursing - Sociology
Ask moral, legal, or ethical questions
Use anonymous polling
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