The Effect of Clickers in University Science Courses

In four studies on the use of student response systems, clickers, we sought to understand whether the use of clickers would impact students’ attitudes toward the use of technology for instruction and achievement on examinations. While the results varied some by study, overall, the results revealed no significant changes in the already positive student attitude toward the use of instructional technology. In all four studies, the majority of the students reported that they learned more when clickers were used in class. The use of clickers did not serve as useful predictor of student achievement in science classes. The findings of this study are similar to others which suggest that some classroom technologies (like clickers) may not necessarily have a direct connection with student achievement, despite positive student feedback regarding their experience using these technologies. Further studies are needed to better understand the true nature of the relationship between these technologies and classroom outcomes.

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