Dr. Stephanie V. Chasteen
Physics Department & Science Ed. Initiative
University of Colorado – Boulder http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu
Stephanie.Chasteen@colorado.edu
Co-presenters have included Steven Pollock, Jenny Knight,
Trish Loeblein, and Kathy Perkins.
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Scince Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

This presentation is copyrighted under the Creative Commons
License
Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike
That means: Please watch it, share it, and use it in your presentations. Just give us credit, don’t make money from it, and use the same kind of license on the works that you create from it.
More information about Creative Commons licenses here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Credit should be given to: Stephanie Chasteen and the Science
Education Initiative at the University of Colorado, http://colorado.edu/sei


We have created a variety of workshops on clickers and
Peer Instruction for faculty and K12 teachers. These slides represent the presentations and activities that we have produced through this work. You are free to use this material with proper attribution (see previous slide).



Not all slides or activities were used in every workshop.
Activities are designated with a peach background to the slide
You can find the full handouts and activity descriptions under
Workshop Materials at http://STEMclickers.colora
do.edu

T h e s e m e t a - s l i d e s p r o v i d e a l i t t l e b i t o f i n f o r m a t i o n f o r y o u a b o u t o u r p r e s e n t e r a n d w h a t w e a r e t r y i n g t o d o w i t h o u r p r o f e s s i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t w o r k s h o p s .
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

5
Science Education Initiative http://colorado.edu/SEI
Applying scientific principles to improve science education –
What are students learning, and which instructional approaches improve learning?
Physics Education Research Group http://PER.colorado.edu
One of largest PER groups in nation, studying technology, attitudes, classroom practice, & institutional change.
Blogger & Consultant http://sciencegeekgirl.com
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

6
Videos of http://STEMvideos.colorado.edu
effective use of clickers
2-5 mins long
Clicker http://STEMclickers.colorado.edu
resource page
• Instructor’s Guide
• Question banks
• Workshops
• Literature / Articles
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

7
We aim to help instructors:


Use student-centered, interactive teaching techniques
By the use of a tool (clickers) which makes a transition to that pedagogy easier
Our talks are “how people learn” talks in disguise. 
Bransford, Brown, Cocking (1999), How People Learn
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder





8
(we) Tell them how to do it
(they) Try it
(they) Fail or fade
(we) Repeat (louder!)
In physics, half of faculty only use Peer Instruction for a single semester
What’s missing?

We need to help faculty anticipate challenges and difficulties with implementing peer instruction. Lose the rose-colored glasses!
 We also need to provide less prescriptive “do this, don’t do that” recommendations, which are hard to remember, and instead provide a pedagogical strategy which will naturally lead to those “best practices”
These workshop materials are intended to help overcome some of the challenges to sustainable improvements in teaching, as based on the research on instructional change.
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

9







Give a clear introduction to peer instruction. What does it really look like?
Give experience in peer instruction. How does it feel as a student? As an instructor?
Provide disciplinary experience. Give examples from multiple disciplines; have instructors sit next to others who teach in their subject area
Why does it work? The research.
Respect their experience. Answer their questions/challenges, rather than being gung-ho salesman.
Provide opportunity for practice and feedback. Especially in writing questions and facilitation.
Practice what we preach. Do all this in a student-centered, interactive environment. Don’t lecture about how not to lecture.
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder

T h e s e s l i d e s a r e u s e d i n w o r k s h o p s w h e r e w e a r e f o c u s i n g o n t h e s k i l l s a n d p r o c e s s o f w r i t i n g g o o d c l i c k e r q u e s t i o n s .
I n a w o r k s h o p t h a t i s t r y i n g t o g i v e a n o v e r v i e w, w e m i g h t o n l y d o a b r i e f “ b e s t p r a c t i c e s i n w r i t i n g q u e s t i o n s ” s l i d e . I n a l o n g e r w o r k s h o p f o c u s e d o n w r i t i n g q u e s t i o n s
Creative Commons – Attribution. Please attribute Stephanie Chasteen / Science Education Initiative/ CU-Boulder



Following are two possible activities where participants write a draft question
They have a chance to revisit and revise the question after additional workshop material is presented, later



Choose one of the pedagogical goals from the
“Question Cycle”
Write a draft clicker question that aims to achieve this goal.
3 minutes

13
BEFORE
Setting up instruction
Motivate
Discover
Predict outcome
Provoke thinking
Assess prior knowledge
AFTER
Assessing learning
Relate to big picture
Demonstrate success
Review or recap
Exit poll
DURING
Developing knowledge
Check knowledge
Application
Analysis
Evaluation
Synthesis
Exercise skill
Elicit misconception
Credit: Rosie Piller and Ian Beatty.



Choose a content learning goal that relates to your discipline
Write a draft clicker question that aims to help students achieve this learning goal
3 minutes






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.

B.
C.
D.
E.
Consider the following question. How might you improve upon this question, or write it differently? What is the pedagogical goal of this question?
A.
The change in the earth’s distance from the sun during the year
The tilt of the earths axis
Changes in the sun’s brightness
Changes in clouds
None of the above

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
The change in the earth’s distance from the sun during the year
The tilt of the earths axis
Changes in the sun’s brightness
Changes in clouds
Bad question.
Students can answer by memorizing a word (“tilt”)
None of the above
Can we make a better question on the SAME topic?
Yes…

A.
B.
What would happen to the seasons if the earth’s orbit around the sun was made a perfect circle
(but nothing else changed) ?
C.
D.
There would be no seasons
The seasons would remain pretty much as they are today
Winter to spring would differ much less than now
Winter to spring would differ much more than now
Much better question. Requires reasoning!









Move away from simple quizzes
Use questions that prompt discussion
Use questions that emphasize reasoning or process
Use clear wording
Use tempting distracters
Use questions for a variety of instructional goals
Use questions at a mixture of cognitive depth
Ask challenging questions – don’t just test memorized facts
See handout

Effective multiple-choice questions have believable
“distracters.”
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 openended 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.
D. Duncan, Univ. of Colorado
20

21
BEFORE
Setting up instruction
E.g.:
Motivate
Assess prior knowledge
… (handout!)
DURING
Developing knowledge
Application
Elicit misconception
…
AFTER
Assessing learning
Relate to big picture
Demonstrate success
…
Credit: Rosie Piller and Ian Beatty.

22
Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain
Do the questions you use intellectually challenge your students or simply assess their factual knowledge?
Higher order
----------------
Lower order handout



Use what we’ve just talked about, and the “tips” in your handouts, to revise your question
If you wish, swap with your neighbor and discuss.
5 minutes




Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy worksheet to rate the Bloom’s level of your question
Swap your question with a neighbor. Do you agree on the
Bloom’s level of your question?
Use the verbs on the detailed
Bloom’s handout to “Bloomify up” the level of your question.
5 minutes



Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy worksheet to rate the
Bloom’s level of this question
Use the verbs on the detailed Bloom’s handout to
“Bloomify up” the level of this question
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
What causes the seasons?
The change in the earth’s distance from the sun during the year
The tilt of the earths axis
Changes in the sun’s brightness
Changes in clouds
None of the above
5 minutes




What did you learn in this process?
What worked well, what was challenging?
How might you go about writing questions in your class?

The perfect question doesn’t solve all problems!

28
 Take a few minutes to write down your action plan to implement ideas you heard about in the workshop