ERIC Number: EJ1259855
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1551-2169
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More than Multiple Choice: A Toolbox for Incorporating Clickers into Political Science Courses
Newland, Sara A.; Black, Bridget
Journal of Political Science Education, v16 n2 p158-175 2020
"Active learning" strategies--peer instruction, simulations, hands-on activities, and the like--improve student performance and engagement. However, instructors often struggle to incorporate these techniques into their courses. Doing so can be especially difficult in large lecture courses, where the number of students makes activities time-consuming and unwieldy. Student response systems (SRS, or "clickers") provide useful tools for incorporating active learning techniques into political science courses regardless of size. While prior research has shown that clickers improve student engagement and mastery of course content, these tools remain underutilized in the political science classroom. Drawing on existing research, an original survey of faculty who use clickers, and our experience using clickers in multiple undergraduate courses, this article aims to provide a "toolbox" of clicker-based techniques and activities that political science faculty can use to align their courses with educational best practices. We offer suggestions for using clickers to implement these best practices, as well as to teach some of the specific concepts and skills that political science courses frequently cover. Finally, we describe some of the challenges that faculty face when they incorporate student response systems, and provide suggestions for addressing them.
Descriptors: Audience Response Systems, Political Science, Active Learning, College Instruction, Teaching Methods, Barriers, Class Activities
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
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Language: English
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