The effects of response cards on 11th grade physics achievement and off-task behaviors.

Abstract

This study investigated how the use of response cards in an 11th grade Physics classroom impacted both students’ academic performance and off-task behaviors. This experimental quantitative study applied an A-B-A design, wherein traditional hand raising was used for student response during the first week of the study or the baseline (A), response cards were used for the second week or the intervention (B), and traditional hand raising was used again for the third week of the study or withdraw of intervention and return to baseline (A). The central questions being investigated were as follows: How does the use of response cards impact student academic performance? How does the use of response cards impact student off-task behaviors? With a quantitative approach short daily quizzes were used to measure the students’ academic performance and teacher observations recorded on a chart were used to measure the frequency of off-task behaviors over the three week period. The results showed that student academic performance increased while off-task behavior decreased.