How to Write a Clicker Case
Teachers Want to Teach
Eric Ribbens
Western Illinois University
Department of Biological Sciences
A bit about me…
• I’m a plant ecologist.
me
• I did a week-long workshop about cases here
in 1999.
• Since then, I’ve published or have in press 12
cases in the Buffalo Case Collection, 4 of
which are clicker cases. Also some other
teaching-related articles.
• I’ve taught workshops about cases and about
clickers, and I’m editing 49 clicker cases for an
NSF grant.
My daughters Samara and NeliSiew
My eyes
Cases AND Clickers
• Theory of case teaching:
– Students remember the concepts longer
and better
– More fun for the students (and prof)
– More like “real” scientific thinking:
problem-solving
Cases AND Clickers
• Theory of clickers:
– Instant feedback to students (and professor)
– Hold their attention
– Better grades and higher student retention!
Cases AND Clickers
• So clickers plus
cases should be a
teaching dream
come true, right?
Maybe. But it’s risky!
The challenge: multitasking
• Solving simultaneous
challenges:
– Using cases
– Large lecture sections
– Using clickers
– Writing powerpoint
presentations
Challenges:
• Cases:
– Time-consuming to teach?
– Students struggle
– What’s the point?
– “I really don’t like these cases because they make
me think, and I’m better at memorizing facts.”
student evaluation comment
Challenges:
• Large classes! (when you prefer one-on-one):
Challenges:
• Clickers:
– I have to learn
ANOTHER piece
of technology?
– How to
integrate
– Student
complaints
Challenges:
• Powerpoint slide design
– Have you ever seen a slide with text too small to
read? Annoying graphics? Confusing layout? Or
boring reams of text? Obscuring background?
– Designing effective powerpoints is hard!
Integrating all of this…
• And I’m supposed to teach you
what? Oh, yes:
How to Write a Clicker Case
Teachers Want to Teach and
Students Enjoy
Can I do something easy instead
like saw students in half?
(the one-sentence take-home
message)
• Integration is the key to success. Need to
simultaneously consider presentation, the
case concept, how to use clickers, and
challenges of managing large classes.
First, why are you doing this?
• Goals should drive everything. What do you
expect to accomplish?
– A funny story that doesn’t teach anything
– Material that students won’t understand
– Minor concepts
• Are all recipes for
sinking your lesson
plan!
By the way ….
What ARE goals?
Do your students know the goals?
Goals
• Group work: what would be a good goal for a
clicker case? Write a goal.
– Is your goal specific?
– Measurable?
– Realistic?
– Important?
Which set of goals is better?
• Students be able to read food labels that are
found on all packaged food products and
describe the contents of the food.
• Students will be able to use food labels to
compare two different food items in terms of
nutritional quality.
OR
• Electron transport: the transfer of electrons through a series of
complexes in the mitochondrial inner membrane in order to
reduce molecular oxygen to water
• - Oxidative phosphorylation: the production of ATP by
mitochondrial inner membrane enzymes as a result of the transfer
of electrons derived from catabolic oxidation
• - In concert with the passage of electrons along the electron
transport chain, protons are pumped outwards, resulting in
establishment of an electrochemical gradient
• - ATP synthesis within mitochondria is normally “coupled” to
electron transport, in that inhibiting either process blocks the
other one
• - Energy for ATP synthesis is directly derived from an
electrochemical proton gradient
• - Situations that “uncouple” oxidative phosphorylation do so by
dissipating or eliminating the proton gradient, so that electron
transport continues unabated but ATP synthesis stops
• - Biological “uncoupling” by the protein thermogenin is used by
organisms to keep warm
The case
•
•
•
•
Good case rules apply here just as elsewhere
Write a compelling story
Write a realistic story
Integrate the case into the entire class:
I
could show you a case with 4 slides of story,
then 30 slides of straight lecture, then 3 clicker
questions
• Set a problem for students to solve
• How do you do this for a topic that isn’t human
biology?
• Compare these starts of cases:
In Peter Mitchell’s Laboratory
• Dr. Mitchell has taken the American twins Charles
and Cheryl into his Glynn Research Lab in
Cornwall for the summer as a favor to his
neighbors, their aunt and uncle. A few days ago
he asked them to do some background reading
and information collecting, so that they can
understand some of his new research ideas.
• “Well? What have you learned?”
(and, in subsequent slides, we find out the twins
have figured out the entire chemiosmotic theory
from their readings, and know every answer…)
22
Eric: Part 1
• He was, his mother always
said, the cutest little boy
ever, and she had always
adored him. So strong, so
sturdy, confidently charging
through life. At 10, he joined
a Little League baseball team,
and made the All-Star team
in his first year. It wasn’t until
quite some time later that
she realized something was
very wrong.
23
Read the Case
Part I
24
Classroom management
• Keep it simple!
• Avoid handouts (I know one clicker case
where students have a preclass reading, a
worksheet, three pages of information,
and get divided a la jigsaws…
• Avoid complicated group designs
• Avoid tasks that cannot be accomplished
without teacher supervision
• Keep it interesting!
• How do you tell the story?
Clicker Management
• Use your clickers to ask different types of
questions
– Factual identification / recall
– Application of a concept
– Interest generating
– Predictive (collect and hold interest)
DON’T see clickers only in the lens of conventional
multiple-choice questions
Powerpoint Design
• Keep it simple
• Visually interesting
• Use images to tell the concepts whenever
possible
• I have a case I could show you: 30 slides of text, 7
slides mixed in with images. What do you think?
• Look at the next two slides. Which slide works
better?
Balance Management
• It is important, during forklift operation, to
remember that the entire machine WILL
follow its center of gravity. If the operator
deliberately or inadvertently shifts some of
the mass, such as attempting to lift a heavy
object, the forklift will tip, tilt, or otherwise
fail to accomplish its intended mission …
OR
Boss: “Well Bob? How the #(*$@ did
this happen?”
What is sustainability?
sustainable: in the human scale of time, is
relevant to legitimate human needs, the
ability to endure, thrive and regenerate
without significant offense to the living
systems of the earth.
sustainable society: one that satisfies its
needs without jeopardizing prospects of
future generations.
Social
acceptability
Economic
viability
Environmental
suitability
30
Clicker-Case Partnership
• If the case is the framework holding your
plans together, clickers are the tool that will
make the case work.
• Some Clicker mistakes:
– Infrequent use of clickers
– Not worth points
– Only for assessment: (my sad story)
Use clickers for:
• Assessment, certainly
but also …
• Generating interest
• Applying concepts
• Formative vs. summative learning
• Getting students to make predictions
• Connecting students to subjects
• (keeping students awake?)
What’s this question?
Is cancer a major health problem in
the United States? Choose the answer
that is closest to you:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
I don’t know anyone with cancer
I know someone who has (had) cancer
Someone in my family has (had) cancer
I have (had) cancer
I know someone who died from cancer
Clickers and Cases:
• It’s a partnership: use the clickers to pull the
case along. Use the case to frame the clickers.
• For most people, the most difficult piece:
– DON’T LECTURE! And DON’T TELL THE ANSWER!
Before telling answers, use a question, and make
your question challenging but doable.
• The other problem: abandoning the case.
Evaluate this:
• An example: Peas AGAIN?
• Watch the Peas case. (I’m not saying it’s good,
I’m not saying it’s bad). In groups of two or
three, critique it.