Designing Clicker Questions that Promote Classroom Discussion

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Designing Clicker Questions that Promote Classroom Discussion

Description

In this online tutorial, you will learn how to create effective in-class discussion question using clickers.  First, I will define the different types of questions that the eInstruction clicker CPS software will allow you to create. Second, I will illustrate how you can construct recall questions as well as questions that access deeper understanding; and third, I will present five methods that can help enliven an in-class discussion using clickers.

CPS Question Types

In most instances, you will be using the eInstruction CPS (Classroom Performance System) full program or CPS for PowerPoint to create your clicker presentation. See the CPS for PowerPoint online tutorial to learn how to use the software program. The program allows you to create following five types of questions: 

True-False

A true-false question has one correct answer that is either true or false.

Example
All archaeological sites are protected under the law.

  1. True
  2. False

Yes/No

Similar to a True/False question, a Yes/No question has one correct answer that is either yes or no.
"Global warming" is a real phenomenon: Earth's temperature is increasing.

  1. Yes
  2. No

Likert Scale

A Likert Scale is a psychometric measurement commonly used in questionnaires and surveys. The CPS Software allows you to create 4-, 5-, or 7-point scale. The default values for the 4-point scale include Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. The default values for the 5-point scale are Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. The 7-point default values are Strongly Agree, Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neutral, Somewhat Disagree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. You always have to option to customize your value options. 
The readings for this topic were interesting and engaging.

  1. Strongly Agree
  2. Agree
  3. Disagree
  4. Strongly Disagree

Multiple Choice

Multiple choice, the most commonly used question type for clicker instruction, typically has at least one answer out of several possible options.
The Greenhouse Effect is caused primarily by:

  1. Water vapor
  2. Carbon dioxide
  3. Ozone-destroying aerosol sprays

Numeric

A numeric question is simply a question that has a number for the answer. 
The square root of 4 equals [x].  What is x?

Assessment Stages and Objectives

To assess student learning, use student clicker responses at the beginning, middle, or end of the learning process.  

Pre-Assessments Questioning Strategies

  • Occurs at the beginning of a semester, topic, or classroom session.
  • Helps you to determine what students already know and identify any student misconceptions.

Mid-Topic Assessments Questioning Strategies

  • Occurs at the middle of a topic or lecture
  • Helps you determine if the students understand a principle, term, or concept.
  • Helps you discover if a student can apply a concept in a real-world scenario.
  • Helps you determine if their ideas are changing.   

Post-Assessments Questioning Strategies

  • Occurs at the end of a topic, lecture, or semester.
  • Helps you determine the students’ overall conceptual structure.
  • Helps you determine if the students can synthesize concepts and principles to solve problems.
  • Again, helps you determine if their ideas are changing.

Each stage focuses on the different cognitive levels of student understanding ranging from knowledge comprehension to application to synthesis. In the next section, I will illustrate how to construct different questions spanning this range of student understanding.

Question Construction

Knowledge questions focus on the students’ ability to recall previously learned material such as vocabulary terms, facts, basic concepts, theories, principles, methods, or procedures discussed in class or readings.

Potential questions might include the following verbs: define, describe, enumerate, identify, label, list, match, name, read, record, reproduce, select, state, view.

Example:
Archaeological artifacts are

      1. Portable objects that people made in the past.
      2. Fossil bones
      3. Pyramids
      4. All of these choices are correct.
      5. None of these choices are correct.

Answer:  1. Portable objects that people made in the past. An archaeological artifact is any object created or modified by humans.

Comprehension questions ask the students to explain or interpret the meaning of a concept. Comprehension questions necessitate students to know facts and principles, to convert verbal material to mathematical formulas, to predict data outcomes, and to interpret verbal material, charts, and graphs.

Potential questions might include the following verbs: classifies, cites, converts, describes, discusses, estimates, explains, generalizes, gives examples, makes sense out of, paraphrases, restates (in own words), summarizes, traces, understands.

Example:   

  1. Field notes from archaeological surveys include
      1. The location of the site.
      2. The materials that were found on the site.
      3. Observations about the site setting.
      4. All of the above.
      5. None of the above.

Answer:  D. All of the Above. Field notes from archaeological surveys should describe the geographic location of the site; the artifacts, features and structures found on the site; and observations about the site ecological and geomorphic setting.

  1. Using the information from your readings, videos, and study guide, predict what factors have contributed to the rise of more socially and politically complex societies.

Application questions expect the students to use a concept or principle to solve a problem, construct a graph or chart, or demonstrate the use of a method or procedure.  Application questions ask students to use previously learned knowledge in new situations to solve problems that have a single or best answer.

Potential questions might include the following verbs:  act, administer, articulate, assess, chart, collect, compute, construct, contribute, control, determine, develop, discover, establish, extend, implement, include, inform, instruct, operationalize, participate, predict, prepare, preserve, produce, project, provide, relate, report, show, solve, teach, transfer, uses, utilize.

Example:
The term “craft specialization” could best be extended to

      1. Giving birth.
      2. Working.
      3. Making beads.

Answer: C. Making beads. Craft specialization refers to “individuals who are involved in full- or part-time activities devotd to the production of a specific class of goods, often highly valued (Price & Feinman 2008: 28).” Craft specialists are typically bead makers, metal smiths, potters, and weavers.
Analysis questions ask students to break down material into its constituent parts to see the interrelationships of ideas and/or organizational structure. They also allow the student to explore unstated assumptions, logical reasoning, the distinction between facts and inferences and data efficacy.

Potential questions might include the following verbs: break down, correlate, diagram, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, focus, illustrate, infer, limit, outline, point out, prioritize, recognize, separate, subdivide.

Example:
The following lines of evidence can be used to reveal social differentiation in the archaeological record except:

  1. Differential access to burial goods
  2. Site settlement hierarchy
  3.  Labor investment in public works
  4. Evidence of redistribution of goods
  5. Household seasonal food storage

Answer:  E. Household seasonal food storage. Household seasonal food storage does not imply that some people in the past had more than other people in the past.  Social differentiation refers to status differences in a society.  Archaeologist identify status by the types of artifacts found in a burial, different size houses, how much work went into the construction of community architecture, and the reallocation of food to a larger group (beyond the household). 

 

Synthesis questions ask students to apply previously learned knowledge to create a new or original whole.

Potential questions might include the following verbs: adapt, anticipate, categorize, collaborate, combine, communicate, compare, compile, compose, contrast, create, design, devise, express, facilitate, formulate, generate, incorporate, individualize, initiate, integrate, intervene, model, modify, negotiate, plan, progress, rearrange, reconstruct, reinforce, reorganize, revise, structure, substitute, validate.

Example(s):

  1. Compare and contrast the transition of foraging to farming in the Old World versus the New World. Use examples from class.

  2. We recently excavated a site in northeastern Arizona with a small 6 - 8 room roomblock, tusayan black-on-white pottery, and a small kiva. Nearby we found prehistoric rock alignments in association with large multi-use bifaces suggesting the area was used as an agricultural fields. What kind of site is this?
    1. Pueblo II Anasazi
    2. Pueblo II Mogollon
    3. Basketmaker II

Answer:  A. Pueblo II Anasazi. The Anasazi were the prehistoric archaeological culture that lived small roomblocks, made tusayan black-on-white pottery, and lived in northeastern Arizona.

Evaluation questions asks students to critical examine or judge the value of new material based on personal experiences, values, and opinions.  Typically, a right or wrong answer does not exist. 

Potential questions might include the following verbs: appraise, compare & contrast, conclude, criticize, critique, decide, defend, interpret, judge, justify, reframe, support.

Example(s):

  1. Critique Jared Diamond’s theory on the origins of global inequality.
  2. Evaluate the following statement using the criteria below:

"Jared Diamond's basic theory is that some countries developed more rapidly than others and were able to expand and conquer much of the world because of geographic luck. The natural resources available to them coupled with the native species and climate provided by their geography led them to become more agricultural and less reliant on hunting and gathering for sustenance. This agrarian lifestyle, in turn, allowed for the development of specialists within the civilization who could work on developing and perfecting the technologies necessary to make these civilizations more profitable, stronger, and more powerful than others around them. Diamond asserts that those living in temperate climates with indigenous animals that could be domesticated were more likely to develop advanced civilizations."

    1. Strongly Agree – Geographic luck explains global inequality today.
    2. Agree – Geographic luck explains most of the variation in global inequality today.
    3. Disagree – Geography is only one factor in the explanation of global inequality today.
    4. Strongly Disagree – Geography did not play any role in the rise of and continuation of global inequality.

Answer:  C. Disagree. Geography, technological advances, trade networks, politics, religion, and the institutionalization of greed all played significant roles in the rise of complex societies thus resulting in global inequality today.

Methods for Encouraging Classroom Discussion

Turn to Your Neighbor

Easy to Implement

  1. Pose question or problem to students.
  2. Students turn to the classmate sitting next to them to discuss their answer.
  3. Limit their time to discuss to about 30 seconds.
  4. Both students must contribute to the discussion.
  5. Allow the each pair to share out with the class, or randomly call upon pairs to share out [optional].

Think-Pair-Share

Easy to Implement

  1. Pose question or problem to students.
  2. Students think alone about the answer (limit to about 30 seconds).
  3. Students turn to the classmate sitting next to them to discuss their answer (limit to an appropriate amount of time).
  4. Both students must contribute to the discussion.
  5. Allow each pair to share out with the class , or randomly call upon pairs to share out [optional].

Think-Pair-Share-Squared

  1. Same a Think-Pair-Share with one added step before pairs share out with class.
  2. After student pairs share with each other, each pair shares with another pair to promote small group discussion.
  3. To avoid one pair dominating the conversation, limit the amount of time each pair has to share with each other.

Round Robin - Good for brainstorming discussions

  1. Create student groups consisting of 3-5 students each.
  2. Present a problem or question.
  3. Each student in the group should quickly share their responses or answers.
  4. Students have one chance to pass on answering.
  5. Have student groups share out with the class, or randomly call upon groups to share out with the class.
  6. Allow individuals in each group to clarify any misunderstandings.
  7. Do not let students criticize each other.
  8. Critique answers provided [optional].

References

The Ohio State University Technology Enhanced Learning and Research (TELR) Office.  Designing Questions for Clickers.  Retrieved September 5, 2008 from http://telr.osu.edu/clickers/teaching/guidelines.htm#Knowledge.

The Center for Teaching and Learning at Grand Rapids Community College Office. Ten Techniques for Energizing Your Classroom Discussions. Retrieved September 5, 2008 from http://web.grcc.edu/CTL/faculty%20resources/ten_techniques_for_energizing.htm.