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As part of ongoing efforts to enhance teaching practices in a large-class introductory biochemistry course, we have recently tested the effects of using a student response system (clickers) on student exam performances and engagement with the course material. We found no measurable difference in class mean composite examination score for students taught with clickers than for those taught in traditional lectures. However, there were significantly more students in the highest achievement category (91-100%) in the section that incorporated clickers than in any other section over five academic terms. Overall, students gave high approval ratings for the use of the clickers, particularly in increasing their participation and engagement in lectures. However, students who reported their performance to be in the lowest performance categories gave a lower level of approval for the use of the clickers than those who reported their performance to be in the higher performance categories. The implications for using clickers to improve teaching in biochemistry are discussed.Keywords: Student response system, clickers, biochemistry, active learning, examination performance.Recently, we have been attempting to improve teaching practices in the Department of Biochemistry. These efforts began in response to consistent feedback from students that our courses were ''feared and hated.'' Both students and instructors felt that the courses contained too much information and were highly inconsistent. We decided to address this problem by (i) introducing a new teaching program which specifically reduced course content and (ii) incorporating active learning strategies in the classroom. We hoped that the reduced content would lead to a better understanding of basic concepts and to better attitudes toward the subject [1] and that the active learning techniques applied in a large-classroom setting would have significant benefits for students in terms of engagement and learning [2].The first changes we made included developing a oneterm introductory biochemistry course (BIOCH 200) for which we prepared detailed teaching materials and standardized learning tools. These materials were intended to clearly define and limit the syllabus; to minimize the impact of variations in the quality or experience of instructors; to support a variety of student learning styles; and to encourage instructors to adopt active learning strategies. Overall, student feedback regarding BIOCH 200 has shown that they enjoy the new course and feel motivated to learn more biochemistry (data not shown).Despite this improvement, we have found it difficult to effectively introduce active learning strategies in the classroom. We have consistently tried to engage students in one or two brief and varied activities during class time, but we have found that the students tend not to like the activities and are resistant to in-class participation. We have received feedback indicating that we should ''give up trying to solicit class participation.'' We have discussed this problem ...

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