Clickers: A New Way to Teach

A clicker system benefits school systems and students to help provide better education. Clickers are reliable, easy-to-use, cost effective, and accurate which make them a great tool to improve education all across the world. With a clicker response system, all students are able to indulge in class through a more active learning style. An active learning style allows students to stay attentive and not doze off during a lecture and miss important information. All in all, the use of clickers by students in school systems helps better provide a more active education that keeps students engaged.

Why is active learning a good way of teaching and should be used in schools? Active education is praised by many school systems, and Margret Martyn, Vice President of academic affairs and student services at Harold Washington College, states that active education is “one of seven principles of good practice in higher education.” By engaging students and getting the students interested on a topic or subject, students learn better because they pay attention more. Ian Beatty, an educational researcher at UMass Amherst, states that by engaging students, students “develop a more solid, integrated, useful understanding of concepts and their interrelationships and applicability” (Beatty). An engaged student will be better able to remember information discussed during class.

Clickers engage students in a classroom through a variety of ways. First off, just showing up to class or attending a lecture increases the engagement a student has with the information being presented. In a study done by Richard Schiming, a retired economic professor at Minnesota State University: Mankato, research proved that “attendance is statistically significant in explaini...

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...ss. Getting students interested about information will increase the chances the student has for success. Clickers are one useful innovation that improves teaching and education and should be used all around the world.

Works Cited

Beatty, Ian. "Transforming Student Learning With Classroom Communication Systems." Educause. Umass Physical Education Research Group, 3 Feb. 2004. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

Caldwell, Jane E. "Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips." National Center for Biotechnology Information. CBE Life Science Education, Spring 2007. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

Martyn, Margaret. "Clickers in the Classroom: An Active Learning Approach." Educause. Educause, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

Schiming, Richard C. "Class Attendance." Minnesota State University – Mankato. MSU Center for Faculty Development, 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.