Conversion Immersion: Converting Old and Writing New Clicker Questions for Your Biology Courses

 

Mark E. Walvoord & Marielle H. Hoefnagels

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2011, Volume 32

Abstract

Clickers (aka Personal, Audience, or Classroom Response Systems) have received attention for several advantages they offer. One major challenge with instructors adopting clickers is their inability to compose effective questions, since this requires different pedagogy than composing effective test or homework questions. One of the authors successfully uses clickers in her introductory biology laboratory by following some basic principles of good practice and by using well-written questions. During our workshop, we presented a brief background on clicker usage related to science education, worked on converting existing clicker questions to ones that promote interaction and learning, and composed new clicker questions.

Keywords:  critical thinking abilities, clickers, classroom response systems, Bloom’s Taxonomy

Dalhousie University (2010)