Assessment of the effects of student response systems on student learning and attitudes over a broad range of biology courses.

With the advent of wireless technology, new tools are available that are intended to enhance students' learning and attitudes. To assess the effectiveness of wireless student response systems in the biology curriculum at New Mexico State University, a combined study of student attitudes and performance was undertaken. A survey of students in six biology courses showed that strong majorities of students had favorable overall impressions of the use of student response systems and also thought that the technology improved their interest in the course, attendance, and understanding of course content. Students in lower-division courses had more strongly positive overall impressions than did students in upper-division courses. To assess the effects of the response systems on student learning, the number of in-class questions was varied within each course throughout the semester. Students' performance was compared on exam questions derived from lectures with low, medium, or high numbers of in-class questions. Increased use of the response systems in lecture had a positive influence on students' performance on exam questions across all six biology courses. Students not only have favorable opinions about the use of student response systems, increased use of these systems increases student learning.

[1]  Paulette Robinson,et al.  Introductory biology courses: a framework to support active learning in large enrollment introductory science courses. , 2005, Cell biology education.

[2]  Division on Earth.  BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists , 2003 .

[3]  Marie A. Abate,et al.  An Interactive Response System to Promote Active Learning in the Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum , 2004, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

[4]  Harry Roy.  Studio vs. Interactive Lecture Demonstration--Effects on Student Learning. , 2003 .

[5]  William B Wood,et al.  Teaching more by lecturing less. , 2005, Cell biology education.

[6]  Robert J. Dufresne,et al.  Classtalk: A classroom communication system for active learning , 1996, J. Comput. High. Educ..

[7]  Chun-Yen Chang,et al.  The Effects on Students' Cognitive Achievement When Using the Cooperative Learning Method in Earth Science Classrooms , 1999 .

[8]  Benjamin S. Bloom,et al.  Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. , 1957 .

[9]  Cynthia B Paschal,et al.  Formative assessment in physiology teaching using a wireless classroom communication system. , 2002, Advances in physiology education.

[10]  William C. Bessler,et al.  The use of an electronic response system in teaching biology , 1971 .

[11]  W. Wood.  Clickers: A Teaching Gimmick that Works , 2004 .

[12]  Joseph D. Novak,et al.  Meaningful learning: The essential factor for conceptual change in limited or inappropriate propositional hierarchies leading to empowerment of learners , 2002 .

[13]  Joseph Casanova,et al.  An Instructional Experiment in Organic Chemistry, The Use of a Student Response System. , 1971 .

[14]  Caroline Elliott,et al.  Using a personal response system in economics teaching , 2003 .

[15]  M. Jensen,et al.  Manna from Heaven or “clickers” from Hell: Experiences with an electronic response system , 2005 .

[16]  Deborah Allen,et al.  Infusing active learning into the large-enrollment biology class: seven strategies, from the simple to complex. , 2005, Cell biology education.

[17]  J. Stanley,et al.  Book Review: Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain , 1957 .

[18]  Marion K. Slack,et al.  Administrative Career Planning: A Ten-Year Update of the Pharmacy Deanship , 2004, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

[19]  Eugene Judson,et al.  Learning from Past and Present: Electronic Response Systems in College Lecture Halls , 2002 .

[20]  Daniel J. Klionsky,et al.  Constructing Knowledge in the Lecture Hall. , 2002 .

[21]  John David Brown.  An Evaluation of the Spitz Student Response System in Teaching a Course in Logical and Mathematical Concepts , 1972 .

[22]  N. Cue,et al.  A Universal Learning Tool for Classrooms , 1998 .

[23]  Randy Moore,et al.  Cooperative Learning--Part 3. Electronic Cooperative Quizzes. , 2002 .

[24]  J. Postlethwait,et al.  Workshop Biology: Demonstrating the Effectiveness of Active Learning in an Introductory Biology Course , 2002 .

[25]  S P Rao,et al.  Peer instruction improves performance on quizzes. , 2000, Advances in physiology education.

[26]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. , 1999 .

[27]  U. Zoller.  Teaching Tomorrow's College Science Courses--Are We Getting It Right?. , 2000 .

[28]  Erica Suchman,et al.  Evaluating the impact of a classroom response system in a microbiology course. , 2006, Microbiology education.