Effects of clicker and peer discussion on learning performance in a secondary biology course

Abstract

From the reports of previous studies, clickers have been recognized as an effective strategy that has a positive impact on learning performance, comparing to lecture. However, it is uncertain that whether it is the clickers themselves or the more general active learning strategies that influences learning performance. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of the two different strategies (clicker vs. peer discussion) that support active learning on learning performance of secondary students. It focused on eighty-eight secondary school female students from four classes who participated in a biology course taught by the same teacher with the same learning content, schedule, presentation slides, and questions. This research randomly selected two classes as the experimental group and the other two classes as the control group. The students in the experimental group were taught with clickers along with lecture, while those in the control group were taught with peer discussion along with lecture. Both groups completed the same tasks. Four lessons were selected in a biology course with the duration of each class about 45 min. The experiment lasted for 4 weeks. Four data collection instruments were used to compare the students’ learning achievements, learning interests, learning attitudes, and cognitive levels. The results showed that (a) there was no significant difference in students’ learning achievements; (b) the experimental group showed higher learning interests than the control group; meanwhile, there was no significant difference in terms of the learning attitudes in between the two groups; and (c) the experimental group showed lower cognitive level than the control group.