Best practices for running peer instruction

BEST PRACTICES FOR RUNNING

PEER INSTRUCTION WITH CLICKERS

Peter Newbury

Center for Teaching Development,

University of California, San Diego

[email protected] @polarisdotca

ctd.ucsd.edu #peerinstructionCSULA

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

12:00 – 12:50 pm Center Hall, Room 316

Best Practices for Peer Instruction with Clickers 2

student-centered instruction traditional lecture

Breaking News!


Freeman et al. (2014) conducted a massive meta-analysis (an analysis of other analyses): compared to traditional lectures, students in active-learning classrooms

score 6% higher on tests and concept inventories

are1.5 times less likely to fail / withdraw

“If the experiments analyzed here had been conducted as randomized controlled trials of medical interventions, they may have been stopped for benefit—meaning that enrolling patients in the control condition might be discontinued because the treatment being tested was clearly more beneficial.”

Student-centered instruction


peer instruction with clickers

interactive demonstrations

surveys of opinions

reading quizzes

worksheets

discussions

videos

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?”

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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

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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

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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

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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.”

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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?

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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?

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Analytical


(STEM classes)



9c. If you’re not sure what to do, you’re never wrong

asking,

What did your group talk about?

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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.

You must confirm the correct choice:

• briefly recap why the right answers are right and

the wrong answers are wrong

• allows students who chose the right answer to

make sure they had the correct reasoning

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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.

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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

may be reluctant to support an unpopular (though still

correct) choice.

All choices might be correct. Each student practices

supporting an argument with evidence.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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!


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Where does that time come from?

(Image: Ready steady go by purplemattfish on flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Traditional classroom


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

learn easy

stuff alone

Flipped classroom


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

transfer assimilate

2 hours in 140 characters (or less)


Effective #peerinstruction is a versatile, student-

centered activity for teaching expert-like thinking

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