(mentions CMT) CU program measures learning click by click

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CU program measures learning click by click

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/jan/02/cu-program-measures-

learning-click-click/

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

The Science Education Initiative at the University of Colorado uses

students' answers to questions transmitted via electronic clickers to

measure how well students are learning. University of Colorado

students actually are learning things in class, and researchers have

the data, the evidence and the clickers to prove it.

Clickers are a way for professors to determine whether a concept they

just taught is understood.

How many think the correct answer is A? B? C?

Students press a button on their clickers to record their choices,

and the results appear immediately on the prof's laptop in the front

of the classroom.

But the worry always has been that students simply go along with what

the smart student sitting nearby thinks.

So, seven CU-Boulder researchers collaborated on a better way to

measure student learning. Their results appear in this week's issue

of Science magazine.

, with CU's Science Education Initiative, uses the

clicker system in her genetics biology class of 360 students.

First step is to see how the students fare at coming up with the

right answer on their own.

So, she'll put on the chalkboard a family tree or pedigree, then

present an obscure disease:

Q. Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome, a disorder hitting one out of 2,500

people, that causes nerve damage and is characterized by slow

progressive degeneration of the muscles of the foot, lower leg, hand

and forearm.

Which of these modes of inheritance would not be responsible for this

syndrome?

A. X chromosome dominant

B. X chromosome recessive

C. Autosomal dominant

D. Autosomal recessive

Students record their choices, then they're asked to discuss it with

their neighbors for a few minutes.

Inevitably, one answer emerges as most popular, and it's usually the

right answer — the power of group discussion wins out.

But are most of the students simply going along with the one deemed

smartest, or the one who did most of the reading?

So, gives a follow-up question, which must be answered without

the benefit of group discussion.

" We'll put up a different family tree " a different disease and make

the modes of inheritance look a little different.

The correct answer this time is going to be different than the

previous correct answer.

Have they learned not just to memorize an answer, but to apply their

knowledge to a different set of circumstances and come up with a

different conclusion?

" And we find that they are learning, that's the exciting part, "

said.

" A lot of my students are in pre-med, they're going to end up being

doctors, " she said.

" We don't require them to just memorize that this disease is

inherited in this way. Instead, we want them to take the information,

decide what is relevant and make the right choice. "

Collectively, the CU researchers have found that:

-- students get the correct answer to the first question, on their

own, 50 percent of the time.

-- after a group discussion, the correct answer is chosen 68 percent

of the time.

-- the follow-up question elicits the correct answer 70 percent of

the time. The students actually fare better on their own this time

around than they did when they were relying on the wisdom of the

whole group.

" The important point is that none of the students were told what the

right answer was, " said Tin Tin Su, an associate professor of biology.

CU's Science Education Initiative and is unique in its scale and

focus among the nation's universities, says .

It's focus os to implement new approaches to teaching that have

research to back up their effectiveness.

The clicker initiative is being used in most of the large science

classes at CU-Boulder.

Students " love the clickers, " dubbed iClickers, and 17,000 have them,

said. The clickers are required in 135 courses.

" They like the break in lectures, the chance to solve problems, "

added.

A lot of professors like them, too, she said. " They're rethinking how

they structure their lectures.

" Instead of just fact after fact, what should be students be able to

do? To be able to solve?

" It's a win-win situation. "

The clickers have been proven useful in classes from physics to

history, psychology to gender studies.

CU's Information Technology division began supporting the iClicker in

2007. They cost $40, but if they're not lost, they can be used

throughout a student's four- or five-year undergraduate education.

" A physics major is going to use the iClicker in 15 courses in his or

her career, " said Mike Dubson, associate chairman of physics. " That's

not much of a financial burden. "