Clickers and the Testing Effect

Classroom response systems were mentioned in an interesting article by Michelle D. Miller in the March/April 2009 issue of Change magazine titled “What the Science of Cognition Tells Us about Instructional Technology.”  (An abstract for the article is available online.)  Miller describes a few results from cognitive science, the science of how people learn, and shares ideas for using educational technologies that take advantage of these results to enhance learning.

One result Miller mentions is the testing effect, which “refers to performance gains resulting from taking a test on material that one is trying to memorize.”  She describes this effect as “robust,” noting that it has been observed not only in experimental lab settings but in “realistic” learning environments.  Miller then notes that clickers can be used to “test” students during class at the end of a section of material.

True, you can accomplish something similar by the traditional show of hands, but just try getting full participation when the class is large and students are too worried about being wrong to raise a hand at all.

I want my students to have their brains “turned on” during class, actively trying to make sense of course content.  Asking frequent clicker questions helps create that kind of environment.  I’m glad to have a term from cognitive psychology to describe one aspect of this classroom dynamic.