Chapter 10: Teaching Undergraduate Introductory Physics with an Innovative Research-Based Clicker Methodology

Personal response systems, also known as clickers, have been broadly used in undergraduate physics classrooms to promote student active learning. Typical physics clicker materials are individual concept questions created and used as discrete items. Although useful, these materials are not directly aimed at mitigating the issues of contextualized learning. Since learning is context sensitive, students often have trouble applying learned knowledge and skills across different situations. To address this issue, we have developed an innovative clicker methodology framework, in which clicker questions are systemically crafted into coherent sequences. Within each sequence, 3–4 individual questions are devised to contain the same underlying concept but are embedded in different contextual surface features. By consistently implementing each sequence as a cohesive microsystem in class, we afford students with increased opportunities to apply a key concept across diverse contexts, therefore promoting flexible learning. This chapter reports creation, validation, implementation, and evaluation studies of our clicker question sequences. Successful classroom practices and student learning outcomes are also reported.