Using Clickers in the Classroom

Most schools in LPSD have at least one set of SMART Response clickers.  These remote control-like units allow students to instananeously communicate with you. While they certainly can be used for summative assessment, their power comes from using them for formative assessment.  You can easily take an anonymous poll or track responses per student.  The information you gather and display for the class can help you teach to a particularly difficult concept.  They’re quite easy to use, they provide instant feedback, and they do engage students.


How SMART Response can be used in your class.

1. Formative Assessment that guides teacher instruction.
How well your students understand the lesson? Take a perception check part of the way through and use this to guide how the lesson progresses. You can teach to some misunderstandings or use this to help provide guidance for differentiated groups.  This can be very useful for teaching material that is sensitive in nature ie) puberty, reproduction to younger grades
2. Pre-test material.  
How much do your students know at the beginning of a concept or unit?  Use a quick test to guide your unit and lesson planning.
3. Assessment as student feedback.
Students can go through the quiz or test at their own pace. Clickers can be set to provide immediate feedback on whether they got the question right or wrong.
4. Opinion polls.
Voting for something in your class (i.e. class representative)? Clickers can be set up to record the student’s name with their vote, or to keep it anonymous. Show the results in a bar graph.
5. Game show review.
Vote for a response just as if it were a game show.

Please contact S. Merth for assistance setting up your classes or for help administering SMART Response for the first time.