Using Clickers to Enhance Student Learning in Mathematics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how to integrate technology into mathematics classes using clickers in the high school setting. The ability to integrate technology into instruction is a current requirement for mathematics teachers in the United States; however, students have been traditionally taught to solve equations using pencils and paper. In addition to leveraging an understanding of the impact that using interactive Student Response System (SRS) have in helping students learn mathematics, this study also aimed to examine its effect on Special Education and English Language Learner (ELL) student learning outcome. 47 high school students who were enrolled in Geometry class were selected to participate in this study. Pre-tests and post-tests were conducted with both the trial and contrast groups of the study. The trial group contained all of the students in one period of Geometry class in which clickers were integrated into the classroom instruction. The contrast group contained all of the students in the same subject as the trial group but did not use clickers. The key elements of the study included having the technology available to the trial group throughout the entire learning process, having consistent participant groups, and having equal access to the materials presented to both groups. Based on the summative and informal assessment test scores, completion rates of class work and the teacher's observations, the research team concluded that for the students in the trial group, the use of clickers did improve the student learning outcome and class participation in mathematics compared to the contrast group. The test scores of Special Education and ELL students in both groups were also assessed for the clickers' impact on these students' learning. The results showed that the use of clickers had a positive impact as these students gained better test scores. These results align with the current research regarding technology integration in mathematics. Factors affecting the effective integration of technology such as teachers' use of clickers, types of questions teachers should ask and depth of technology integration will be discussed.Keywords: interactive technology, clicker, mathematics, student response system (SRS), summative assessment, English Language Learners (ELL), special education Significance of ProblemThe main goal of a high school mathematics teacher is to motivate students to learn mathematics and help them to apply mathematics in their daily lives. In the article Waking The Dead: Using Interactive Technology To Engage Passive Listeners In The Classroom (Carlin & Guthrie, 2006), the authors conducted research on the use of clickers in adult education classroom settings, and determined it was worth the cost to invest in clickers for the classroom. Carlin and Guthrie's research showed that students were generally positive about clickers' use, and preferred courses that used the technology over those that did not. Their data revealed that student participation approached 100% in...

Enhancing a Flipped Statistics First Year Course by Using QT-Clickers

“…The vast majority of formative assessment research on classroom response systems has been done in psychology (Lantz & Stawiski, 2014), biology (Smith, Wood, Krauter, & Knight, 2011), science (Baltaci-Goktalay, 2016), business subjects (Rana & Dwivedi, 2016), mathematics (Chen, Whittinghill, & J.A., 2010) and statistics (Kaplan, 2011). Only a few nonspecific articles, none in statistics, could be found on summative assessment involving clickers (Han & Finkelstein, 2013;Hancock, 2010;Kay & LeSage, 2009;Premkumar, 2016;Y. Wang, Chung, & Yang, 2014).…”

“…The limitation is that students can't go back to a specific question on a previous slide. Wang et al (2014) also used a set of MCQ's for summative assessment at the end of each unit. A compatible clicker software programme, Examination View, was used to build questions of different difficulty level for the summative assessment tests.…”

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“…Un estudio llevado a cabo con 105 universitarios confirmó que la comprensión de conceptos matemáticos y el rendimiento académico mejoró notablemente tras la implementación efectiva de actividades recopiladas con ARS de los alumnos gracias a la retroalimentación que se podía proporcionar (Simelane y Skhosana, 2012). Otra investigación en la misma línea, con alumnos de secundaria, destacó que el uso de los clickers mejoraba el resultado del aprendizaje de elementos geométricos en el alumno y la participación en clase en matemáticas frente a la clase tradicional por medio de entornos de aprendizaje mucho más personalizados y participativos (Wang et al, 2014). Incluso en este estudio se destaca que alumnos con necesidades educativas especiales se beneficiaron del uso de los ARS para participar en las actividades de la clase y obtuvieron mejores puntuaciones en las pruebas ya que participaban más activamente en las clases y se les incluía en el desarrollo de las actividades.…”

Formative assessment and the role of teachers' content area

“…These systems, which are much more common in post‐secondary science classes, allow teachers to poll the class and obtain an immediate measure of students' conceptions for formative purposes (Bode, Drane, Kolikant, & Schuller, ; Crouch & Mazur, ). While teachers can easily master the mechanics of using these systems and there have been positive outcomes when using classroom materials created by researchers, the challenges are significant and the results not as promising when teachers create questions and interpret student responses independently (Feldman & Capobianco, ; Wang, Chung, & Yang, ). It has therefore been proposed that formative assessment be curriculum embedded and include classroom tasks and support materials that are domain specific (Penuel & Shepard, ; Sheppard, ).…”