Promoting active learning among students may result in greater learning and more positive attitudes in university-level large lecture classes. One way of promoting active learning in large lecture classes is via the use of a think-pair-share instructional strategy, which combines student participation in class discussions via clicker technology with small group activities. However, simply placing students in small groups does not insure that they will engage in meaningful peer interaction within groups. A group incentive might be one means of increasing the likelihood that students will engage in meaningful peer interaction and thus learn more and have more positive attitudes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two incentive systems, group incentives and individual incentives, on students' learning and attitude in a university-level large macroeconomics course that employs a think-pair-share instructional strategy with clicker technology. However, the results did not support the hypothesis that the students who were in the group incentives condition would perform better than students in the individual incentive condition. The results also did not support the hypothesis that the students in the group incentives condition would have more positive attitude towards (a) the think-pair-share items, (b) partnering and peer discussion, (c) the incentive systems, and (d) the course as a whole. One-on-one student interview data was coded, analyzed, and merged into themes. The main themes were (a) students worked with several partners, rather than just one other student, (b) many students felt they benefitted from the think-pair-share discussions, and (c) some students disliked working with a partner because the partner was not prepared. Based on these findings, suggestions for future research are offered. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / November 17, 2011. / clicker, incentive systems, large classes, think-pair-share / Includes bibliographical references. / Robert Reiser, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jonathan Adams, University Representative; Aubteen Darabi, Committee Member; Tristan Johnson, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183108 |
| Contributors | Shariff, Sya Azmeela Binti, 1978- (authoraut), Reiser, Robert (professor directing dissertation), Adams, Jonathan (university representative), Darabi, Aubteen (committee member), Johnson, Tristan (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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