CTD Sp14 Weekly Workshop: Best practices for running peer instruction with clickers

PEER INSTRUCTION 2:
BEST PRACTICES FOR RUNNING
PEER INSTRUCTION WITH CLICKERS
Peter Newbury
Center for Teaching Development,
University of California, San Diego
pnewbury@ucsd.edu @polarisdotca
ctd.ucsd.edu #ctducsd
resources: ctd.ucsd.edu/programs/weekly-workshops-spring-2014/
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
12:00 – 12:50 pm Center Hall, Room 316

“What the best college teachers do”
Best Practices for Peer Instruction with Clickers2
“More than anything else, the best teachers try to create a
natural critical learning environment:
 natural because students encounter skills, habits, attitudes,
and information they are trying to learn embedded in
questions and tasks they find fascinating—authentic tasks that
arouse curiosity and become intrinsically interesting
 critical because students learn to think critically, to reason
from evidence, to examine the quality of their reasoning using
a variety of intellectual standards, to make improvements
while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions
about the thinking of other people.”
(Bain (2004), p. 99)

student-centered instructiontraditional lecture

peer instruction with clickers
interactive demonstrations
surveys of opinions
reading quizzes
worksheets
discussions
videos
student-centered instruction

Let’s try it…
 Don’t get (too) distracted by the content of the
questions: this is not a test of your knowledge!
 Try to be aware of how the peer instruction is
“choreographed” – we’ll talk lots about it
afterwards

Astronomy class
We’re in an astronomy survey course. We’ve just
finished a worksheet on the phases of the Moon.

Clicker question
This is the phase of the Moon when it rises:
What is the phase of the Moon 12 hours later?
(Adapted from Ed Prather)
A B
D
C
E

Clicker choreography
Best Practices for Peer Instruction with Clickers
The instructor needs to run the peer instruction in a way
that gives students sufficient time to
1. think,
2. discuss, and
3. resolve the concepts.
We want students to focus all of their precious cognitive
load on the concept. We don’t want them wasting any
of it wondering, “What am I supposed to do now?”
8

1. 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
9

2. “Please answer this on your own.”
Goals of the first, solo vote is to get the students
• to commit to a choice in their own minds
• curious about the answer
• prepared to have a discussion with their peers
If they discuss the question right away:
• 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
10

2. “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
11

3. 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. If applicable, model
how to answer about the question by “acting it out.”
Alternatives:
• keep facing the class, watching for confused stares
and/or and satisfied smiles
• when you notice students picking up their clickers and
getting restless, they are prepared to vote.
Don’t make it a game of “beat the clock.”
12

4. Count down and close the poll
When almost all the votes are in, say, “Final votes,
please, in 5…4…3…2…1…Thank-you!” and close
the poll.
Don’t wait for every last student to vote. Some may
be choosing not to vote.
13

Analytical vs. Argumentation skills
solo vote
pose question
Analytical
(typically one right answer)
(STEM classes)
Argumentation
(all choices may be correct)
(Art & Humanities, Soc Sci)

5. Initiate small group discussions: “Please turn to your
neighbors and convince them you’re right.”
Don’t display the histogram: if the students see it, they
tend to argue for the popular choice on the 2nd vote
even if it’s not the answer they feel is correct.
Students may not know how to “discuss” the question so
give them direction: “…convince them you’re right.”
15
Analytical
(STEM classes)

6. Wander around the room, listening to the
conversations.
o Avoid joining conversations – this is their time to
talk, not yours.
o Listen for misconceptions, places where students get
stuck – these nuggets of student thinking are your
source for improving the questions, clarifying the
questions, etc.
16
Analytical
(STEM classes)

7. When it starts to get quiet and/or you notice
students starting to disengage or talk about other
things, collect the 2nd vote:
“Group vote, please!” Start the poll.
“Last call on the group vote. I’m closing the poll in
5…4…3…2…1…thank-you!” Stop the poll.
17
Analytical
(STEM classes)

8. Now you can display the histogram if it will help, not
hinder, the discussion.
Depending on their votes, you have several choices
for guiding the discussion…
18
Analytical
(STEM classes)
The students had an opportunity to practice talking
about the problem. They’ve received formative
feedback from their peers.
They’re more confident and ready to join the class-
wide discussion.

9a. Correct answer is the clear
winner.
Ok, well done, B is correct but…
 why might A be tempting?
 why might someone think it could be E?
 could someone explain why D is wrong?
 (possible follow-up question)
How would be change the question so that A is right?
19
Analytical
(STEM classes)

9b. No clear winner.
Ok, this was a harder one, we
need to look at all the options…
 what reasoning would someone use for A (repeat for
all popular choices)
 if you changed your vote, what did you discuss in your
group?
20
Analytical
(STEM classes)

9c. If you’re not sure what to do, you’re never wrong
asking,
What did your group talk about?
21
Analytical
(STEM classes)

10. 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 may still not
sure why that choice is correct.
Briefly confirm the correct choice:
• explain why the right answer is right
• explain why wrong answers are wrong
• allows students who chose the right answer to
make sure they had the correct reasoning
22
Analytical
(STEM classes)

Analytical vs. Argumentation skills
solo vote
pose question
Analytical
(STEM classes)
Argumentation

History
According to Augustine, which do you think was the most
significant event in his conversion to Christianity? Be
prepared to defend your choice with evidence from the
readings.
A) Corporal punishments as a school-boy
B) Student years of follies (studies and promiscuity)
C) Stealing the pears from the neighbor’s tree
D) Death of his classmate/friend
(Keller-Lapp UCSD)
Argumentation

4. Count down and close the poll
When almost all the votes are in, say, “Final votes,
please, in 5…4…3…2…1…Thank-you!” and close
the poll.
Don’t wait for every last student to vote. Some may
be choosing not to vote.
25
Argumentation

5. Initiate small group discussions: “Please turn to your
neighbors and explain to them why you made the
choice you did.”
Don’t display the histogram: if the students see it, they
tend to argue for the popular choice on the 2nd vote
even if it’s not the answer they feel is correct.
All choices might be correct. Each student practices
supporting an argument with evidence.
26
Argumentation

6. Wander around the room, listening to the
conversations.
o Avoid joining conversations – this is their time to
talk, not yours.
o Listen for misconceptions, places where students get
stuck – these nuggets of student thinking are your
source for improving the questions, clarifying the
questions, etc.
27
Argumentation

7. When it starts to get quiet and/or you notice
students starting to disengage or talk about other
things…
Show the histogram – this is the
signal to the students that a
discussion is about to begin.
28
Argumentation

8. Facilitate a class discussion, prompting students to
share
 which answer they chose
 what evidence they have to support that choice
(for example, citing readings)
29
Argumentation
Create a “summary” slide to show after, with each
point or argument + evidence you wanted covered.
If the students get to all of them, great. If not, you can
briefly add anything that was missed.

Peer instruction takes time!
30
Where does that time come from?
(Image: Ready steady go by purplemattfish on flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Traditional classroom
31
 first exposure to material is in class, content is
transmitted from instructor to student
 learning occurs later when student struggles alone to
complete homework, essay, project
learn easy
stuff together
learn hard
stuff alone
transfer assimilate

Flipped classroom
32
 student learns easy content at home: definitions,
basis skills, simple examples. Frees up class time for...
 students come to class prepared to tackle
challenging concepts in class, with immediate
feedback from peers, instructor
learn hard
stuff together
learn easy
stuff alone
transfer assimilate
Watch for
future CTD
workshops
about flipping
your class

Resources
1. Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
2. Peer instruction resources from the Carl Wieman Science Education
Initiative at the Univ. of British Columbia :
http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm
3. Videos by the Science Education Initiative at the Univ. of Colorado
(Boulder) provide excellent background for using clickers:
http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/SEI_video.html
4. Peer Instruction network blog.peerinstruction.net

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