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INTEGRATING PLICKERS IN THE HISTORY CLASSROOM GURUMINTARJIT KAUR
Jabatan Sains Sosial
Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Pendidikan Teknik Kompleks Pendidikan Nilai
71760 Bandar Ensteks, Nilai Negeri Sembilan
[email protected]
INTRODUCTION
The role of educators in the 21st century has evolved significantly. In the primary schools, teachers are educating a new generation known as Generation Alpha. McCrindle & Wolfinger (2009) have defined Generation Alpha as those born between year 2010 to 2025. One of the main characteristics of this generation is they do not perceive technologies as tools but have integrated them into their lives (McCrindle & Wolfinger, 2010). Thus, the use of information and communication technology as a teaching tool is deemed necessary to motivate and sustain the interest of the younger generation during classroom instructions. The introduction of History as a core subject in primary schools in Malaysia from year 2014 has brought hope to revamp preconceived notions about History being an irrelevant subject and ‘the dead man of curriculum’ (Abdul Razaq Ahmad & Andi Suwirta, 2007). History has been perceived as a boring, outdated and uninteresting subject which focuses on past events and memorization of historical facts (Ariegusrini Agus & Mohamad Johdi Salleh, 2009;
Yong Shu Lan, 2013; Malar Muthiah, 2013). Some quarters have reservations about the ability of teachers who received formal training and have the knowledge and skills of the 20th century, teaching 21st century students (Abdullah Zhidi Omar, 2017).
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Thus, teachers of the 21st century have to embrace these challenges by being proactive, creative and innovative in implementing suitable teaching techniques and approaches to achieve the goal of teaching and learning of History in the classrooms. A research conducted by Anuar Ahmad & Nelson Jinggan (2017) on the teaching instructions of History teachers in Malaysian schools confirms that skills and knowledge of the teacher in designing suitable teaching instructions have great influence on the academic achievement and understanding of students in the subject. Teachers need to develop their technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) as we understand that a variety of teaching techniques will stimulate students' positive feelings towards learning. Integrating technological knowledge with subject matter learning is crucial, rather than focusing only on technological knowledge at the expense of appropriate pedagogy or the content (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).
THE RATIONALE OF USING PLICKERS AS AN ASSESSMENT TOOL
With the advent of technology and its role in education, a number of studies have provided evidence of the significant contribution which technology makes to improve the interactive education environment (Irving, 2015; Mercer, Hennessey & Warwick, 2019; Murphy, 2016;
Aidinopoulou & Sampson, 2017). There are a number of user-friendly and feasible technologies and software that could be utilised to aid teachers during classroom instructional process. Plickers is one example of an effective classroom response systems which can be integrated as a tool to enhance teaching and learning experience. An interest to integrate Plickers into the teaching and learning of History among Primary Four students of a semi-rural school in Negeri Sembilan was fueled when the trainee teacher realised that the school has limited resources to support technology based teaching and learning.
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Plickers was decided upon many other technologies such as Socrative, Kahoot and RecaP based on the simplicity and feasibility of integrating the tool into a typical Malaysian classroom. If the classroom environment is such where students are not able to use computers, mobile devices or internet, then the QR code technology (Plickers) can be regarded as the best option. Based on the trainee teacher’s observation, students become restless and inattentive in the classroom especially after the recess break. The hot and humid weather of our country may be a contributing factor to such conduct.
Another noticeable attribute of these 10 year olds is that they enjoy communicating in a group of friends. Thus the challenge was to create a friendly and democratic classroom environment while maintaining a certain level of discipline which will make the students more appreciative of the knowledge learnt.
Prior to taking over the class from the permanent teacher, questionnaires were distributed to gauge the interest and experience of the students in the teaching and learning of History. Statements were rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from one (Strongly Disagree) to five (Strongly Agree). The findings of the survey were similar to the observation conducted by the trainee teacher. Most of the respondents (89%) strongly agree with the statement that defines History as a subject which is difficult to comprehend. In addition to that, 98% of the respodents strongly disagree with the prospect of History being a fun inducing subject. While only 3% of the respondents express interest and motivation to further explore the Primary Four History Syllabus. The findings strongly advocate that teachers are not implementing the Primary School History Curriculum according to the aspirations stipulated in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2013).
A strong interest to integrate Plickers in primary four history lesson was further justified when research shows that Plickers displays the mechanism of gamification. Gamification of education is a developing approach for increasing learners’ motivation and engagement by incorporating game design elements in educational environments
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(Dichev & Dicheva, 2017; Rose, 2015). According to Maxwell (2016), the social aspects of game mechanics have positive effects on student and teacher satisfaction. Furthermore, Plickers has the ability to collect real-time formative assessment data that may assist teachers to provide just-in-time feedback. Formative assessment is an integral component of classroom instructions. Teachers have always complained about having limited time to assess students’
performances and provide feedback. Integration of Plickers in classroom instructions is seen as a resolution to this predicament.
THE APP AND WEBSITE PREPARATION
The process of integrating Plickers in classroom instructions is easy.
The most important part of this tool is that students do not need any electronic devices to participate in the assessment process. Prior to using the app with students, the trainee teacher installs the application on her smartphone/tablet.Then she creates an account on Plickers.com. Some valuable information such as her first and last name together with a valid email address is provided before she is allowed access to create a password. Next, she creates a class and assigns students to virtual cards (see Figure 1). Later, she matches the virtual cards with the physical ones which will be used by the students in the classroom. Plickers uses quick response (QR) codes printed on a sheet of paper which is then used as paper clicker. Each side of the QR code corresponds to one of four options depending on how the card is oriented (A, B, C, or D). Each card is assigned with a unique number for each student. These cards are available for free from the website. The trainee teacher decides to print larger size cards as it will be easy for the primary school students to handle (see Figure 2). An interesting fact about the QR code cards is that they are very flexible and can be adapted and assigned to pairs or groups to encourage collaborative learning activities.
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With comprehensive online guidelines, building questions bank becomes an easy task. It was decided that the questions bank will comprise all five main topics taught in Year Four, with specific focus given to each unit in a chapter. This step will provide a comprehensive
Figure 2. Sample Plickers card
Figure 1: Assigning Students to Virtual Cards
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guideline to anyone who wishes to use the questions as a formative assessment tool. Higher thinking order skills and the inculcation of value and virtues as stipulated in the Primary School History Curriculum are given due consideration in the development of questions. During classroom instructions the teacher uses the LiveView from the Plickers website to display questions on a big screen. Then, when students are ready to give response, the ‘Scan Now’ button is pressed and with the smartphone held vertically, the camera is able to scan responses of students from the QR cards displayed in their hands. This tool was used by the trainee teacher during her three months attachment in the school. The idea was shared among other trainee teachers teaching the same subject in different schools as it can be easily replicated; in which the questions are reusable and adaptable.
FEEDBACK FROM THE INTEGRATION OF PLICKERS IN THE CLASSROOM
Trainee teachers who have incorporated Plickers in their classroom instructions have given positive feedbacks on the ability of this tool in providing opportunity to assess their teaching effectiveness. The real time information on student answers is cited as the most effective measure in improving classroom instructions and the understanding of students. Teachers are able to assess information on the number of correct (green) and incorrect (red) responses, total cards scanned and those not scanned (gray). Therefore, every student is compelled to give an answer and teachers are able to engage even the shiest student in classroom activities. Plickers provides a more effective opportunity for classroom discussion as a discussion can occur revolving around response choices and the merits of each answers displayed on the screen. This is viewed as an opportunity to enhance creative thinking skills among the students. Plickers has enabled trainee teachers to check on student comprehension, learning needs and academic progress throughout lessons within the stipulated sixty minutes of classroom teaching time. This level of progress is usually
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difficult to achieve during a traditonal History lesson. Teachers feel more effective when they are able to gauge understanding and correct misconceptions of students instantaneously. In addition to that, a scoresheet for an entire class can be printed and presented as evidence of incorporating formative assessment in classroom instructions. The spreadsheet has comprehensive data on the total number of questions that the class has responded to, individual student response to each question, and the overall percentage of correct responses per question. The above information has proven to be useful in the planning of remedial lessons and writing reflective journals. This has resulted in better time management, reduced anxiety and a greater level of job contentment among the trainee teachers.
At the end of the trainee teacher’s attachment, a short survey was conducted to see the students’ response to the use of Plickers in classroom instructions. A total of 60 students from three different classes were identified as respondents in the survey. The result shows that 88.7% of the students who used Plickers stated that it made the lesson funny, 86.4% of them stated that it increased motivation to learn History while 78.9% agreed to History being an interesting subject to learn. Teacher’s observation have also included that students’ understanding of the historical events has improved as the question and answer sessions are conducted in a less intimidating manner. An analysis on the individual performance graph derived from Plickers has recorded an ascending trend which shows that students’
ability to give correct answers has improved over time. The reasons behind this achievement are narrowed down to two: students being more attentive during classroom activities and positive peer support during question and answer sessions.
CONCLUSION
It is apparent that efforts to integrate technology in the classroom will be rewarded, albeit with some potential barriers. The conclusion drawn from the successful implementation of Plickers in the History
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classroom is that technology can be a cosiderable support in teaching and learning, with the aim of improving students’ learning experience and performance. In the Standard-based History Curriculum for Malaysian National Primary Schools, it is clearly stipulated that History as a subject in the upper primary schools should be taught in a fun and exciting learning environment (Bahagian Pembangunan Kurikulum, 2014). Thus, teachers must be encouraged to integrate technology tools such as Plickers in their classrooms to positively impact the students’ knowledge and skills in a non threatening, supportive learning environment.
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