Psychology Commons^™

Does Using Clicker Questions Improve Students' Conceptual Understanding?, Edward W. Goshorn Iv

The Cardinal Edge

Active learning can be incorporated into STEM classrooms in multiple ways. With exploratory learning, students explore a novel activity before learning the concepts or procedures. With personal response devices (e.g., clickers), students respond to real-time questions posed during lecture. The current studies examined whether, and how, clicker question can be used as exploratory learning, to improve students’ conceptual understanding and engagement over traditional instruction. Biology professors integrated clicker questions into a lecture, and either closed the clicker poll prior to (Restricted Clicker Experiment, N = 164) or after (Extended Clicker Experiment, N = 188) giving feedback to the class. Undergraduate …

Does Using Clicker Questions Before Instruction Improve Students' Conceptual Understanding., Edward "Walker" Goshorn

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Active learning can be incorporated into STEM classrooms in multiple ways. With exploratory learning, students explore a novel activity before learning the concepts or procedures. With personal response devices (e.g., clickers), students respond to real-time questions posed during lecture. The current studies examined whether, and how, clicker questions can be used as exploratory learning, to improve students’ conceptual understanding and engagement over traditional instruction. Biology professors integrated clicker questions into a lecture, and either closed the clicker poll prior to (Restricted Clicker Experiment, N = 164) or after (Extended Clicker Experiment, N = 188) giving feedback to the class. Undergraduate …

Improving Student Outcomes In Introductory Formal Logic, Bryce Rosenwald

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Across a variety of educational settings, undergraduate introductory courses in formal logic tend to have high failure rates. In this paper, I explore practical, evidence-based steps that logic instructors can take to improve student outcomes. The topics covered are small class sizes, problem-based learning, clicker questions, group activities, and spaced practice. The effect of small class size is moderated by many variables, including each instructor’s unique characteristics and the pedagogical techniques used in large vs. small classrooms. Problem-based learning and clicker questions are determined to be excellent techniques for introducing content and furthering understanding of content, respectively. Small groups can …

Getting Active During Covid-19: Incorporating Experiential Learning In Online Instruction, John Siegel

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Like other academic libraries, librarians at a regional comprehensive university had to switch from in-person to online synchronous information literacy sessions due to COVID-19. The Coordinator of Information Literacy has served as psychology librarian for over two years and worked with faculty to incorporate library instruction in all sections of the required research methods and senior seminar courses. Active learning was a central component of these in-person sessions, which included database searching and an exercise for students to understand the difference between primary/empirical and secondary/review literature. He quickly discovered that the small group activities did not readily lend themselves to …

Using Pair Programming As A Collaborative Learning Approach To Support Students With Learning Disabilities Via Zoom Breakout Rooms, Ling Li, Li Da Xu, Yuming He, Wu He, Silvana M.R. Watson, Shana Pribesh, Debra A. Major, Elizabeth Langran (Ed.), Leanna Archambault (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Peer learning through pair programming is a type of collaborative learning that involves students working in pairs to discuss computer programming concepts or develop codes to solve problems. The Zoom breakout room method is applied to teach pair programming in a virtual classroom during the COVID-19 environment. By facilitating pair programming in a virtual learning environment, we gained valuable experience in promoting collaborative learning, active learning, and problem-based learning activities in a cloud setting.

Can Exploratory Learning Help To Close The Minority Achievement Gap?, Shannon Nicole Derkson, Marci S. Decaro

Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase

Underrepresented minority (URM) students are disproportionately retained and underperform in STEM disciplines compared to non-URM students, yet are needed in the STEM workforce. Possible causes of this minority achievement gap are social isolation, “chilly” classrooms, low confidence, and stereotype threat (Ballen et al., 2017). Inclusive instruction, which includes active learning, may help to reduce this gap (Saunders & Kardia, 1997). Active learning engages students in learning through activities and/or discussion in class as opposed to passively listening to lectures (Brame, 2016; Freeman et al., 2014). But, not all active learning strategies promote inclusive learning environments. We examined whether a type …

The Art Of Being Human: A Textbook For Cultural Anthropology, Michael Wesch

NPP eBooks

Anthropology is the study of all humans in all times in all places. But it is so much more than that. “Anthropology requires strength, valor, and courage,” Nancy Scheper-Hughes noted. “Pierre Bourdieu called anthropology a combat sport, an extreme sport as well as a tough and rigorous discipline. … It teaches students not to be afraid of getting one’s hands dirty, to get down in the dirt, and to commit yourself, body and mind. Susan Sontag called anthropology a “heroic” profession.” What is the payoff for this heroic journey? You will find ideas that can carry you across rivers of …

The Empathy Project: Using A Project-Based Learning Assignment To Increase First-Year College Students’ Comfort With Interdisciplinarity, Micol Hutchison

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Empathy and interdisciplinarity are both concepts that are current and relevant—across professions, in research, and in academia. This paper describes a large, interdisciplinary, project-based assignment, the Empathy Project, which allows students to delve into and increase comfort and skill with interdisciplinary thinking and collaborative learning, while improving the core college skills of written and oral communication, ethical and quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking. As I revised the assignment based on student feedback and results, I found that group conferences and time in class to work collaboratively were beneficial. Additionally, building increased scaffolding into the assignment, including greater student and group …

A Note-Restructuring Intervention Increases Students’ Exam Scores, Dov Cohen, Emily Kim, Jacinth J. X. Tan, Mary-Ann Winkelmes

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It was hypothesized that students’ learning would be enhanced by an intervention getting them to elaborate on and restructure the notes they had taken in lecture. Students in a research methods course were randomly assigned to weeks in which they would turn in a copy of their restructured lecture notes along with a very brief summary of the class. This intervention required students to spend quality time-on-task. Subsequently, results of exam questions from weeks in which students completed the intervention were compared to weeks they did not do so. The intervention improved student performance by a full class grade (11 …

Active Teaching.Pdf, Jana Michelle Hackathorn

Jana Hackathorn

No abstract provided.

Metacognition: Developing Self-Knowledge Through Guided Reflection, Kathryn Wiezbicki-Stevens

Open Access Dissertations

Metacognitive self-knowledge has been identified as a crucial component of effective learning. It entails students recognizing their learning strengths and weaknesses, styles and preferences, and motivational beliefs. The present study explored a method for the development of metacognitive self-knowledge and in doing so, was also a means for discovering what academic experiences students perceive as influential in their development as learners. Twenty-seven college students, all senior psychology majors, produced written narratives in response to a guided reflection activity. A qualitative research approach employing analytic induction was used. Themes of academic experiences as described by participants provided support for neuroscientific findings …

Providing Faculty Ipods To Explore Innovative Teaching And Learning, Jace Hargis, Scott A. Jensen, Carolynn S. Kohn, Matthew P. Normand, Deborah Schooler

Matthew Normand