Concept quizzes and "clickers" for assessing students' understanding of concepts in real time

Instructor: Paul Karol
Scope: Introduction to Chemistry, Chemistry Department, MCS
Assessment Tool: Concept quizzes and "clickers" for assessing students' understanding of concepts in real time

Motivation:

In a large lecture class it is difficult to know what students do and do not understand as you are presenting material. I noticed that students did not have a good grasp of basic concepts and were therefore unable to apply the concepts to problems in class but when I asked them to assess their own understanding of what was covered in the lecture it wasn’t useful. I decided that the best way to know what students did and didn’t understand was to assess their understanding of concepts was in real time during class. Initially I began running paper-pencil “concept quizzes” that focused on a topic that had most recently been covered. I would insert these quizzes at random times throughout the semester. Although effective, the additional grading and analyzing of the results was time-consuming.

Goal:

I wanted to be able to assess student understanding of the basic concepts in chemistry as they are covered during the lecture but maintain a manageable amount of time spent grading and providing feedback.

Methods/Tools:

In 2006 I shifted to using a clicker system where students can answer the “concept quiz” using clickers. Student Response Systems, or clickers, are technology-based systems that automate the delivery of questions, the collection of responses, and the analysis of students’ performance. They can provide immediate, real-time information on students’ current learning state.

Implementation:

Each week, I administer “concept quizzes” to assess student understanding of concepts that that has been recently covered in the lecture. Before each of the “concept quizzes” the instructor asks the students for confirmation if they have all understood the concepts covered. The instructor then puts up a slide that asks a question about one or more of the concepts. Students use clickers to answer the question.

Impact/Results:

The instructor uses the results of the clicker testing as a baseline from which to either go back to the concept or to move onto the next concept. Students have responded well to this system as they see it as helping them learn and as a collaborative exercise in learning.

Problems/Challenges:

Learning how to set up the software takes some time; there can be issues with the clickers themselves. With the infrared technology students sometimes have difficulty lining up the clicker to the receivers so that their answers can be recorded by the system.