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• "Peer Instruction - A User's Manual"
  Mazur, Eric, book Published by Prentice Hall,Inc., New Jersey 07458, ISBN 0-13-565441-6, 1997.

  An instructor's resource book, developed partially with funds from the National Science Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust, that presents an entirely new approach to teaching introductory physics, complete with a step-by-step guide for converting conventional lectures to a more interactive format and a ready-to-use set of classroom materials in print and on disk. Need this book now? It's available online at Amazon.com

  PDF(Image of chapter 1)

• "An Overview of Teaching and Learning Research with Classroom Communication Systems"
  Abrahamson, A. Louis, paper presented at the International Conference of the Teaching of Mathematics, Village of Pythagorion, Samos, Greece, Conference Proceedings by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., June 3-6, 1998.

  This paper presented in the birthplace of Pythagoras links the modern teaching of mathematics to the invention of another famous ancient Greek scholar. Over two thousand years ago, Socrates realized that people understand more by answering a question, than by being told an answer. Now, science has helped to explain reasons behind this counter-intuitive idea, and shown why it works so well. But, there is a problem with Socratic teaching: it works well only in small classes. The CCS is an invention which ameliorates this problem and makes (forms of) Socratic teaching effective in classes of any size. This paper briefly summarizes five years of CCS research with pedagogical techniques in a range of disciplines, educational levels, and institutional settings.
  

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• Classtalk: A Classroom Communication System for Active Learning
  Dufresne, Robert J., Gerace, William J., Leonard, William J., Mestre, Jose P., Wenk, Laura, paper Published in Journal of Computing in Higher Education, Vol 7, pps 3-47, 1996.

  Traditional methods for teaching science courses at the post-secondary level employ a lecture format of instruction in which the majority of students are passively listening to the instructor and jotting down notes. Current views of learning and instruction challenge the wisdom of this traditional pedagogic practice by stressing the need for the learner to play an active role in constructing knowledge. The emerging technology of classroom communication systems offers a promising tool for helping instructors create a more interactive, student-centered classroom, especially when teaching large courses. In this paper we describe our experiences teaching physics with a classroom communication system called Classtalk. Classtalk facilitated the presentation of questions for small group work, as well as the collection of student answers and the display of histograms showing how the class answered, all of which fed into a class-wide discussion of students' reasoning. We found Classtalk to be a useful tool not only for engaging students in active learning during the lecture hour, but also for enhancing the overall communication within the classroom. Equally important, students were very positive about Classtalk-facilitated instruction and believed that they learned more during class than they would have during a traditional lecture.  

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• Classtalk in Two Distinctly Different Settings
  Webking, Robert H., extract from "Classtalk at University of Texas El Paso", CDROM authored at the Dept. of Political Science, Univ. of Texas - El Paso, September '98.

  Bob Webking, a professor at the University of Texas El Paso describes his experience using Classtalk first in the spring of '98 and then again in the summer. In the spring he taught Political Science in a 580 seat lecture hall , a vastly different environment from the summer Law and Justice class which was composed of a small group of students preparing for graduate school.  

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  Here are the files from Webking's CD that you can download into your computer. Keep in mind that the files are very big so may take a long time to download. If you want to have the CD, please sent us an email and we will sent it to you.

  classtalk.zip	5.97MB (PC only)		CTALKLIN.zip	5.57MB
  CTALK.zip	11MB		NEWS.zip	26MB
  CTALKPL.zip	10.7MB		PLCLASS.zip	20.3MB

   

• Taking Advantage of Hand Held Technology and Calculator Networks
  Boyle, Jim, Mackie, Diana, Gretton, Harry, Workshop Organised by CTI Mathematics ("Computers in Teaching Initiative - Mathematics", based at the University of Birmingham, England) and sponsored by Texas Instruments, was held in the InterActive ClassRoom at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, January '99.

  This workshop investigated benefits and drawbacks to the use of handheld technology by students in and out of the classroom, the effect it will have on assessment and the way it can be integrated into courses.  

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• Interactive-Engagement vs Traditional Methods: A Six-Thousand-Student Survey of Mechanics Test Data for Introductry Physics Courses*
  Hake, Richard R., paper published in American Jouurnal of Physics, Vol 66, pps 64-74, 1998.

  A survey of pre/post test data using the Halloun-Hestenes Mechanics Diagnostic test or more recent Force Concept Inventory is reported for 62 introductory physics courses. The results of the conceptual and problem solving test strongly suggests that the classrooms use of IE (Interactive-Engagement) methods can increase mechanics-course effectiveness well beyond that obtained in traditional practice.

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• Physics lecturing with audience paced feedback
  Massen, C., Poulis, J., Robens, E., Gilbert, M., paper published in American Journal of Physics, Vol 66, May 1998.

  This paper describes the APF (Audience Paced Feedback) system as it was used at three European universities, and gives indications of its effectiveness.  

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• Classtalk used at Elementary School
  Hartline, Fred, PhD, bE Internal Technical Note, Summer 1997.

  An overview written by Fred Hartline giving early results from Classtalk use at McIntosh Elementary School. The effect was a dramatic increase in reading comprehension (DRP) scores.

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• Teaching with a Classroom Communication System - What it Involves and Why it Works
  Abrahamson, A. Louis, Mini-Course presented at the VII Taller Internacional "Nuevas Tendencias en la Ensenanza de la Fisica", Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico, May 27-30, 1999.

  From Socrates to behavorism, Piaget, cognitive science, and constructivism, this Mini-Course examines the pedagogical roots of classroom communication systems. It traces the history and results from early experiments showing how the combination of technology and pedagogy helps students to learn better and makes their classrooms more active, lively, and happy places.

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• The advantages of Classtalk in small classrooms
  An email from Professor R.N. Shelby, a physics professor at the US Naval Academy, to Fred Harline, the Vice President of Software at bE, July '97.

  Bob Shelby takes a look at the advantages of Classtalk in small classrooms.

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• "How People Learn - Brain, Mind, Experience, and School"
  Book published by National Academy Press, Washington D.C. 20418, ISBN 0-309-06557-7, April 1999.

• "Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology - Special Issue:The Science of Learning"
  Eriving E. Sigel and Rodney R. Cocking, journal published by Elsevier Science Inc., New York 10010-5107, ISBN 0193-3973, 2000.

• "How People Learn - Bridging Research and Practice"
  M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford, and James W. Pellegrino, book published by National Academy Press, Washington D.C. 20418, ISBN 0-309-06536-4, June 1999.

• "Improving Student Learning - A Strategic Plan for Education"
  Book published by National Academy Press, Washington D.C. 20418, ISBN 0-309-06489-9, 1999.

• "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children"
  Book published by National Academy Press, Washington D.C. 20418, ISBN 0-309-06418-X, June 1998.

• "How Students Learn - Reforming Schools Through Learner Centered Education"
  Nadine M. Lambert and Barbara L. McCombs, book published by American Psychological Association, Washington D.C. 20002, ISBN 1-55798-464-6, September 1998.

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