Clickers in the high school biology classroom

Abstract

Students were exposed to handheld response clickers as a means aimed to increase engagement and content retention as well as help with metacognition. Data collection tools included a pre- and post-science engagement survey, pre- and post-unit content surveys, a clicker attitude survey, and a qualitative final student interview. Results showed small to negligible normalized gains in treatment versus non-treatment units of study. Similarly, students' science engagement pre- versus post scores were generally unchanged. The Clicker Attitude Survey and post student interview though, showed that when clickers were used in the classroom, students generally did have a positive opinion of clicker use and were anecdotally more likely to examine their own learning.