Get out the vote! A pedagogy for engaging students in college mathematics classes Jennifer Applebee Kathleen Shay Middlesex County College Edison, New Jersey

Wouldn’t you like to... Promote active learning Engage every student Foster student interaction Generate instant feedback Identify and address misconceptions Foster deeper understanding through discussions Make your classes more enjoyable

Outline 1. What is classroom voting? 2. Why use voting? What does research tell us? 3. How do we incorporate voting in our classes? 4. Examples of voting questions and voting data 5. Resources 6. Your questions

What is classroom voting? The instructor poses a multiple-choice or open- ended question, depending on available technology. Students are given a few minutes to form an opinion and to discuss the question with their peers. Students vote for their chosen answer. The instructor guides students in a discussion about their responses, asking individual students to explain and defend their vote.

Origins of classroom voting Eric Mazur, Harvard Professor of Physics, originator of peer instruction (1991) “You don’t learn by listening, you learn by doing.”

Let’s vote! True or False? At some time since you were born your weight in pounds equaled your height in inches. A.True, and I am very confident B.True, but I am not very confident C.False, but I am not very confident D.False, and I am very confident TRUE!

Voting data

Research on Classroom Voting Research has shown that classroom voting and other teaching techniques which require students to actively engage in the material during class produce substantial improvements in student comprehension and retention of the concepts when compared to presentation methods that allow the majority of the students to remain as passive observers who are simply taking notes. See e.g. Butler. FOCUS, volume 25 #3, 2005

Cornell study: Discussion is key A common final exam was given to 330 students in 17 sections of Calculus I. Classes were taught by 14 different instructors who were free to choose if and how they wanted to use classroom voting. Sections that used a lot of peer discussion with voting had statistically better results on final exam. Sections using little to no peer discussion with voting were statistically no different from sections using only lecture. Miller et al. PRIMUS, volume 16, #3, September 2006.

Benefits for all A comparative study of a traditional class vs one that used classroom voting concluded that the use of clickers created a safer learning environment that benefitted all students, and especially English language learners and students with learning differences. Wang, Chung, & Yang. International Education Studies, volume 7, #10, 2014

What do math students say? Post-course surveys were given to 513 students in 26 courses, taught by 14 instructors at 10 different institutions, all of which used voting and discussion as a primary teaching method. (Avg. class size = 20) ●93% said that voting makes the class more fun. ●90% said that voting helps them engage in the material. ●84% said that voting helps them learn. ●77% said they would choose a voting section of a mathematics class over a non-voting section. Zullo et al. MAA Notes: Teaching Mathematics with Classroom Voting

Guidelines for classroom voting Use voting to teach, not for assessment and evaluation. Intersperse questions throughout the class. Substitute a voting question for one that you would have demonstrated at the board. Students must see that essential ideas are taught through the questions and resulting discussion. The questions must be directly relevant and help prepare students for the assignments and tests which follow.

How do we present the questions? Questions may be listed in a printed handout written on the board or an overhead transparency included in a PowerPoint presentation via the internet for mobile clicker applications

How do we collect the votes? Low TechDedicated Tech Mobile Plickers Socrative Poll Everywhere Learning Catalytics Nearpod

Vote, discuss, revote

Types of voting questions Introduce a new topic Check for prerequisite knowledge Provoke commonly-held student misconceptions Assess students’ understanding of a concept or skill just presented Probe the depth of student understanding of fundamental mathematical concepts

Introduce a new topic

Check for prerequisite knowledge

Provoke misconceptions True or False for all values of x? A. True, I am confident. B. True, I’m not so sure. C. False, I’m not so sure. D. False, I am confident. FALSE! Calculus I class

Assess understanding of a new concept

Probe for depth of understanding

© 2011, MAA© 2009, Jossey-Bass Resources

The MathQuest library There are more than 2,000 multiple-choice questions designed for classroom voting. Student editions in pdf format may be freely downloaded from the web site. Teacher’s edition and LaTeX files are available with an request to Questions are available for AlgebraCollege AlgebraLiberal Arts Math StatisticsPrecalculusCalculus I, II, III Linear AlgebraDifferential Equations

Past voting results can be helpful for lesson planning There are many questions for which we now have voting records from several classes, often from different institutions. Together, these votes can give us insights into student thinking and common challenges. Using records of past voting results, we can quickly identify questions that are more likely to challenge the students and provoke serious discussions.

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