THE EFFECTS OF AN AUDIENCE RESPONSE SYSTEM (ARS) ON ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS STATISTICS IN AN INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS CLASS

Audience Response Systems are devices that allow for instant communication and involvement by the students in the classroom by the use of handheld remotes. The system allows students to anonymously respond to questions posed by the instructor. A study was done in the Spring of 2009 to test the impacts of using these remotes in a learning disabled classroom. Two sections of Introduction to Statistics I were taught identically except for the use of the handheld remotes: one of these sections used a handheld remote to respond to questions; whereas, the other class discussed the answers to the questions as a class. In addition to looking at graded assessments, each student took the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics 36+ Pre and Post Test. The impact of using the remotes on graded assessments and attitudes towards statistics will be compared in the paper as well as recommendations for future study. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using an audience response system, remotes, in the classroom on student performance and attitudes. This paper will discuss the remotes, the design of the study, and the assessments used. Finally, a discussion of the findings and ideas for future research are included. THE REMOTES Remotes are handheld devices similar to a television remote that students use to respond to questions asked by the instructor. The students' responses are picked up by a receiver, recorded by a computer and summarized in a chart showing the results to each question and displaying it on a projection screen. The remotes allow instructors to be able to get an understanding of how well the class understands a topic in a short amount of time. It also allows the students to access how well they understand a particular subject in comparison to the rest of the students. BACKGROUND