Clickers in a Flipped Lab; feedback to enhance engagement in first year Science.

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence from lecturers engaged in teaching practical’s is that there is very little if any interaction from the students with the pre-lab reading resources as posted on Moodle or in the laboratory manuals provided at the beginning of the semester. The lecturer must provide a pre-lab lecture which takes up valuable lab time. The lecturer in this instance identified a first year biology group to take part in the study. The students were introduced to the clicker technology and asked if they were willing to take part in the study. The aim of this research was to determine the effectiveness of using a flipped classroom approach in laboratory sessions. This involved using the clickers to conduct a short pre-lab quiz in place of the usual pre-lab lecture. This quiz tested student knowledge of the pre-lab reading material hosted on Moodle. It provided feedback to the student on their individual knowledge and the aggregate knowledge of their peers. It also provided feedback to the lecturer. It was hypothesized that students would find the feedback useful and that the flipping would result in increased engagement with the Moodle resources and improved student preparedness