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Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions

Use of in-class concept questions with clickers can transform an instructor-centered “transmissionist” environment to a more learner-centered constructivist classroom. To compare the effectiveness of three different approaches using clickers, pairs of similar questions were used to monitor student u...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Smith, M.K., Wood, W.B., Krauter, K., Knight, J.K.
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21364100
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-08-0101
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author Smith, M.K.
Wood, W.B.
Krauter, K.
Knight, J.K.
author_facet Smith, M.K.
Wood, W.B.
Krauter, K.
Knight, J.K.
author_sort Smith, M.K.
collection PubMed
description Use of in-class concept questions with clickers can transform an instructor-centered “transmissionist” environment to a more learner-centered constructivist classroom. To compare the effectiveness of three different approaches using clickers, pairs of similar questions were used to monitor student understanding in majors’ and nonmajors’ genetics courses. After answering the first question individually, students participated in peer discussion only, listened to an instructor explanation only, or engaged in peer discussion followed by instructor explanation, before answering a second question individually. Our results show that the combination of peer discussion followed by instructor explanation improved average student performance substantially when compared with either alone. When gains in learning were analyzed for three ability groups of students (weak, medium, and strong, based on overall clicker performance), all groups benefited most from the combination approach, suggesting that peer discussion and instructor explanation are synergistic in helping students. However, this analysis also revealed that, for the nonmajors, the gains of weak performers using the combination approach were only slightly better than their gains using instructor explanation alone. In contrast, the strong performers in both courses were not helped by the instructor-only approach, emphasizing the importance of peer discussion, even among top-performing students.
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spelling pubmed-30468882011-03-02 Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions Smith, M.K. Wood, W.B. Krauter, K. Knight, J.K. CBE Life Sci Educ Articles Use of in-class concept questions with clickers can transform an instructor-centered “transmissionist” environment to a more learner-centered constructivist classroom. To compare the effectiveness of three different approaches using clickers, pairs of similar questions were used to monitor student understanding in majors’ and nonmajors’ genetics courses. After answering the first question individually, students participated in peer discussion only, listened to an instructor explanation only, or engaged in peer discussion followed by instructor explanation, before answering a second question individually. Our results show that the combination of peer discussion followed by instructor explanation improved average student performance substantially when compared with either alone. When gains in learning were analyzed for three ability groups of students (weak, medium, and strong, based on overall clicker performance), all groups benefited most from the combination approach, suggesting that peer discussion and instructor explanation are synergistic in helping students. However, this analysis also revealed that, for the nonmajors, the gains of weak performers using the combination approach were only slightly better than their gains using instructor explanation alone. In contrast, the strong performers in both courses were not helped by the instructor-only approach, emphasizing the importance of peer discussion, even among top-performing students. American Society for Cell Biology 2011-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3046888/ /pubmed/21364100 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-08-0101 Text en ‡Present address: Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. © 2011 M. K. Smith et al.CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2011 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society of Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Articles
Smith, M.K.
Wood, W.B.
Krauter, K.
Knight, J.K.
Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title_full Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title_fullStr Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title_full_unstemmed Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title_short Combining Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from In-Class Concept Questions
title_sort combining peer discussion with instructor explanation increases student learning from in-class concept questions
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21364100
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.10-08-0101
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