ConcepTests (clicker questions) for science and math classes
Dwain Desbien
and Brant Hinrichs, expert modelers, use ConcepTests by Eric Mazur (at Harvard
University) in their college Modeling Instruction. Below are weblinks for ConceptTests in physics, chemistry,
earth science, life science, astronomy, computer science, & math. All URLs
work as of Sept. 2018.
(compiled by Jane Jackson)
ALL SCIENCES
& MATH: Carl WiemanÕs webpage has many resources.
http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clickers.htm
PHYSICS: ERIC
MAZURÕs clicker questions/ConcepTests are at
Interactive
Learning Toolkit: http://ilt.seas.harvard.edu
Eric Mazur
developed them by using wrong answers to short answer questions on quizzes and
tests as his distractors for clicker questions. He did this systematically over
the years. He used some from Paul Hewitt.
Interactive Learning Toolkit (ILT).
"Administer your courses, design course Web pages, and interact
with your students online."
"The ILT-BQ software allows to upload ConceptTests prepared within
the ILT to BQ and to return the student responses to the ILT for statistical
analysis of the data and the tracking of individual student performance."
PHYSICS: Many Next-Time Questions by Paul Hewitt are
at
http://www.physicslab.org/Compilations/NextTime.aspx (They are no longer at Arbor Scientific
website. Thanks to retired physics teacher Catharine Colwell for compiling
them.)
I quote Paul
Hewitt:
Next-Time Questions are favorite insightful questions I have
asked my students over my teaching career. I have embellished them with
cartoons "to catch interest. Their intention is to elicit student
thinking. My use of them was posting several in a glass case outside my lecture
hall-without answers. The wait-time for answers was one week. I could have
called them Next-Week Questions, which
would have been more appropriate.
Most of these have
been published over the years as Figuring
Physics in The Physics Teacher
magazine. They have also been in ancillaries to my Conceptual Physics textbooks,
and physical science textbooks as well. My hope is that teachers will pose the
questions, and withhold answers to "next time," which could be as
early as the next class meeting. Their educational value is the long wait
time!"
Thanks to
modeler Geoff Schmit for posting comments about these, in his blogpost on Sept.
26, 2011: http://pedagoguepadawan.net/date/2011/09/
PHYSICS:
Ranking Tasks are a type of clicker question/conceptest. Spiral Physics, a FREE online textbook
by Paul DÕAlessandris (retired in 2018), has ranking tasks.
http://www.dropbox.com/sh/oulpsaytsjxvhzh/AADt7uvQWqNgOXOz5B-YrQXba?dl=0
Or buy the 2014
book called TIPERS, from Pearson, by Curt Hieggelke, Steve Kanim, David
Maloney, and Tom OÕKuma. Or buy their 2000 book, used, called Ranking Tasks.
Google it, for the introduction in pdf.
CHEMISTRY (This
reference is on Carl WiemannÕs website – above):
http://www.jce.divched.org/JCEDLib/QBank/collection/ConcepTests/
Landis, C.R.,
Ellis, A.B., Lisensky, G.C., Lorenz, J.K., Meeker, K., Wamser, C.C. Chemistry
ConcepTests: A Pathway to Interactive Classrooms, Prentice Hall, Inc.
GEOLOGY:
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/assess/conceptests.html
or
http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pedagogies.html Click on ConcepTests
CALCULUS:
http://www.math.cornell.edu/~GoodQuestions/materials.html
LIFE SCIENCE: ÒCombining
Peer Discussion with Instructor Explanation Increases Student Learning from
In-Class Concept QuestionsÓ: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21364100
For
a deeper understanding of how to use ConcepTests effectively:
*
Peer Instruction Network
is the global community for current and future users of Peer Instruction and
related interactive teaching methods. By joining, you can connect with other
innovative educators, share experiences and resources, and learn how to
transform teaching and learning using research-based methods.
Info &
weblinks to ÒQuick Start GuideÓ, etc. are at https://www.peerinstruction.net/
Visit the
official Peer Instruction blog: ÒTurn to your NeighborÓ: http://blog.peerinstruction.net/
* Peer Instruction is a research-based,
interactive teaching method developed by Eric Mazur at Harvard University in
the 1990s. It has been adopted across the disciplines, institutional types, and
throughout the world. Download a
2018 introduction to Peer Instruction in Life Sciences at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5998310/
Download a
guide to Peer Instruction in all sciences (with links to many resources) at
http://lse.ascb.org/evidence-based-teaching-guides/peer-instruction/
* Learning
Catalytics is a classroom response system that was developed by Eric Mazur and
his colleague by 2011, to better facilitate and measure learner
engagement. Learn about it at