Exploring iclickers at the ELEMENTARY LEVEL

I had never used iclickers until I came to Michigan State and when I first started using them I wondered why I had never used them before. I really enjoyed iclickers because they were a fun way to stay engaged. I think that many elementary school students love using technology and I think this is a technology that will keep students focused on the material. Some advantages to iclickers are that it is a good way to show me how my students are doing without the added stress of a quiz or even a pop quiz. It will show me what I need to work on teaching better and what the students know. Another advantage is that it is good partipitation points for the students. It is a really good way for my students to get some easy points and I can even make up some type of extra credit questions to boost their grades a little.


When I was researching iclickers I came up with a few disadvantages for myself and for the students. One disadvantage that I might come across would be the unpredictable technology. Maybe one day one of the iclickers does not work, how would I give that student their points. It also might be difficult for the students to register their iclicker and it would be time consuming for me to register all of them. Another disadvantage would be the cost of the iclickers. Most likely every student would have to pay for their own and what if that student doesn't have the money to do that. In college, I know of people who would plan to skip class, hand their iclicker to another student, and still get the participation points. I don't think this would happen in a smaller class, but I think it is still something to worry about.


I think iclickers would be a good way to learn at the elementary level because you can use it in any subject. After I teach a lesson (doesn't matter what subject) I could ask my students five multiple choice questions to see who comprehended the lesson and who was paying attention. I really like that you can use iclickers in any subject, but I understand that the question cannot be that specific. I think that is a disadvantage to iclickers because you cannot ask open ended questions. It would be hard to really understand how they figured out a math problem because the work would not be shown. That's why I would make my iclicker questions participation points and then the real tests would show me more open ended answers. Using iclickers in the classroom is a really good way to use technology in teaching.