Center for Teaching Development (UCSD) Weekly Workshop: Clickers 3: Click it up a level February 7, 2013 ctd.ucsd.edu

1. slides and resources: http://tinyurl.com/CTDClickers3
CTD WEEKLY
WORKSHOPS:
CLICKERS 3:
CLICK IT UP A LEVEL
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu
@polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
Thursday, February 7, 2013
12:30 – 1:30 pm Center Hall, Room 316

2. traditional lecture student-centered instruction
2 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

3. peer instruction w clickers
worksheets
videos
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
discussions
student-centered instruction
3 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

4. Typical Peer Instruction
Episode
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,
colored/ABCD voting cards,...
4. The instructor reacts, based on the
distribution of votes.
4 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

5. Effective peer instruction
requires
1. identifying key concepts, misconceptions
Clickers 2
2. creating multiple-choice questions that before
require deeper thinking and learning class
Clickers 1
3. facilitating peer instruction episodes that
spark student discussion during
class
4. resolving the misconceptions
5 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

6. In effective peer instruction
 students teach each other while they students learn
may still hold or remember their novice practice
and
misconceptions how to think,
 students discuss the concepts in theircommunicate
own language like experts
 the instructor finds out what the students know
(and don’t know) and reacts
Clickers 3
6 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

7. Reacting to their votes
You 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.”
(Image: Peter Newbury)
7 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

8. Ideally…
…every 1st (“solo”) vote should be followed by
1. “Please turn to your neighbors and convince
them you’re right.”
2. peer discussion
3. 2nd (“group”) vote
4. instructor-led group discussion (“What did your
group talk about?”)
5. confirmation/clarification of the correct
answer(s) and incorrect answers
8 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

9. Let’s try it…
9 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

10. Ideally…
…every 1st (“solo”) vote should be followed by
1. “Please turn to your neighbors and convince
them you’re right.”
2. peer discussion
3. 2nd (“group”) vote
4. instructor-led group discussion (“What did your
group talk about?”)
5. confirmation/clarification of the correct
answer(s) and incorrect answers
10 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

11. In reality…
 not every question works out the way your were
expecting (especially the first time)
 it’s gets a bit boring, for them and for you
When you’re comfortable with the clicker
choreography, click it up a level. Adjust your
reaction to wring every ounce of learning out of
the teachable moment.
11 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

12. What do you think you should do
with this first-vote distribution?
A B C D E
A) “Turn to your neighbours and convince them
you’re right”
B) move on – everyone got it
C) confirm correct answer and move on
D) “Can someone who answered C tell us why they
made that choice?”
E) other
12 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

13. What do you think you should do
with this first-vote distribution?
A B C D E
A) “Turn to your neighbours and convince them
you’re right”
B) confirm correct answer and move on
C) “Can someone who answered B tell us why they
made that choice?”
D) show the vote distribution
E) other
13 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

14. What do you think you should do
with this first-vote distribution?
A B C D E
14 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

15. What do you think you should do
with this first-vote distribution?
(C is not the correct answer)
A B C D E
15 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

16. What do you think you should
do if this is the second-vote
distribution?
A B C D E
16 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

17. Reacting to their votes
When 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...
17 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

18. Resources
 www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm
Rich resource, including links to collections of
peer instruction questions
 peerinstruction4cs.org
Beth Simon and Cynthia Lee, UCSD
Excellent guide to what to do before term, on
the first day, how to get student buy-in, and
more.
CWSEI Eric Mazur Derek Bruff Doug Duncan
(1996) (2009) (2004)
18 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

19. Sample Questions

20. Clicker question
A thin bar of gold is placed next to
a bar of chocolate. Which of the
following is true?
A) Both take up the same space and are equally
heavy.
B) The chocolate is lighter but both take up the
same space.
C) The gold is heavier and takes up less space.
(Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via
20 Clickers 3: Click it up a level LearningCatalytics)

21. Clicker question
Copper pennies turn from a rosy
pink color to a dark brown and
even green over time. The color
change:
A) happens when copper reacts
with oxygen.
B) is from accumulation of dirt on
the pennies.
C) happens when the top sheen
wears off and the color
(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
underneath shows Floor: Hotel Congress by cobalt123 on flickr CC)
(Image: Penny up.
21 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

22. Clicker question
Water is boiling in a pot. What
are the bubbles made up of ?
A) Hot air
B) Water vapor
C) Heat waves
D) Nothing (bubbles are empty)
(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
(Image: Hubble, Bubble by canonsnapper on flickr CC)
22 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

23. Clicker question
Melt chocolate over low heat. Remove the
chocolate from the heat. What will happen to the
chocolate?
A) It will condense.
B) It will evaporate.
C) It will freeze.
(Question: Sujatha Raghu from Braincandy via LearningCatalytics)
(Image: CIM9926 by number657 on flickr CC)
23 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

24. Clicker question
A leopard goes into a deep cave
where there is no light. After an
hour, can it see in the dark?
A) No because there is no light.
B) No because its eyes have not had enough time
to adjust.
C) Yes because its eyes have adjusted to the
darkness.
D) Yes because leopards can see in the LearningCatalytics)
(Question: Paul Simeon from Braincandy via dark.
(Image: Villy at the “door” of his cave by Tambako the Jaguar on flickr
24 Clickers 3: Click it up a level CC)

25. Clicker question
For the data set displayed in the following
histogram, which would be larger, the mean or the
median?
A) mean
B) median
C) can’t tell from the given histogram
(Peck, mathquest.carroll.edu/resources.html)
25 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

26. Clicker question
If 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 kg
B) increases to a value < 6.5 kg
C) increases to a value > 6.5 kg
D) stay the same
(UBC CWSEI)
26 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

27. Clicker question
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: Bill Wood)
(Image: Hubble, Bubble by canonsnapper on flickr CC)
27 Clickers 3: Click it up a level

28. Clicker question
Which point on the phylogenetic tree represents
the closest relative of the frog?
A
B E
D
C
(UBC CWSEI)
28 Clickers 3: Click it up a level