Questions for Classroom Response Systems and Teaching Instrumental Element Analysis

Authors

  • Gunnar Schwarz Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland;, Email: schwarzg@ethz.ch

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2021.33

PMID:

33637144

Keywords:

Analytical chemistry, Classroom response system, Misconceptions, Questions, Second-year undergraduate

Abstract

Asking students questions is a central, although understudied and underappreciated, ingredient of teaching. Formative questioning provides many opportunities for teachers and students, e.g. to practice skills and receive feedback. Among other approaches, classroom response systems (CRSs), which run on the mobile electronic devices of students, facilitate such active engagement of students in the lecture hall. This paper presents an overview on questions for teaching with a focus on questions for CRSs and provides considerations and brief guidelines for the development of multiple-choice questions. Examples from a mid-sized analytical chemistry lecture illustrate additional challenges and different probes for potential misconceptions. Moreover, limitations of valid interpretation of students' responses are emphasized. This leads to a discussion of the value of incorporating prompts for justifications into questions.

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Published

2021-02-28