Clicker technology – an alternative pedagogical tool for physics lessons

Abstract

The study investigates how clickers would support the teaching and learning in Maltese secondary schools. The research focussed on how clickers were used by teachers and students during physics lessons. For this study, classroom observations were used to probe into the teachers’ and students’ interactions, their experiences and the challenges they encountered when using clickers. Two schools, three teachers and four classes participated in the study. Following the lesson observations, the three participating teachers took part in an interview. During the interviews, the teachers expressed their views about the use of clickers as a classroom resource. Furthermore, six students from each of the four participating classes took part in focus groups. These students shared their experiences about the usefulness of clickers to learn physics. The research findings indicate that clickers are useful as they help the teacher to gauge students’ understanding and promote classroom discussion. The teachers had reservations about introducing clickers on a regular basis as they feel that this might negatively affect students’ engagement. They also stated that they felt uncomfortable when using new technologies as they were aware that the time constraints involved when teaching a content loaded curriculum and the lack of proper training were an issue. Students stated that they believed that clickers encourage engagement and can therefore support learning.