The positive effect of in-class clicker questions on later exams depends on initial student performance level but not question format

Active learning strategies have been increasingly adopted in higher education across many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. Audience response systems, or clickers, are useful tools that allow instructors to incorporate active learning into large-enrollment courses. Clickers engage students during class and provide real-time feedback that can allow both students and the instructor to identify and correct misconceptions. Many instructors that implement clickers also implement peer instruction, where students vote individually, discuss the question with their peers, and then revote. While this strategy has been shown to improve conceptual understanding, the effects of specific factors, such as question format and student performance level, on learning gains remains unclear. We designed a study in which students in an introductory biology course engaged in clickers with peer discussion during class. We incorporated a treatment in which one section of the course answered a given clicker question in a multiple-choice (MC) format and another section of the same course answered the same question in a multiple-true-false (MTF) format. Students subsequently answered an isomorphic exam question 1-3 weeks later. We observed that both clicker question formats had similar effects on later exam performance. While clickers had an overall positive effect on student exam performance, we found that this effect was significantly greater in higher-performing students, with lower-performing students showing little-to-no benefit. We also found that the initial response rates within peer discussion groups influenced whether students changed to the correct answer. These findings demonstrate that students interact with and benefit from clicker questions in different ways and highlights the importance of considering how different students might be affected by active learning strategies.