PEABODY — Clickers in hand, the students look more like game show contestants than seventh-graders.
But the new audience response technology at Higgins Middle School is helping both students and teachers improve, according to teachers and kids alike.
The audience response system consists of a radio frequency device that works between handheld remote clickers for students and their teacher's computer. Higgins purchased five of them this year.
During lectures, teachers can get instant feedback from students who type in an answer on the clicker keypad. The answer is sent to the teacher's laptop and can be projected onto the board almost immediately.
"We can use this system to get a really fast gauge of how kids are understanding the materials," Higgins Principal Todd Bucey said. "Instead of a paper and pencil test and results a day or two later, they find out how the kids are doing."
The school's newest housemaster, Tracy Smith, shared the idea with fellow administrators when she arrived in the fall.
Bucey was able to purchase one of the $1,200 devices, which also includes a projector and 30 clickers. The Peabody Education Council, a group of civic and business leaders who support city schools, helped purchase the next four, the principal said.
"We've had a lot of positive response," he said.
There is a bit of a learning curve for teachers to understand the system and integrate it into their classes.
"Once (teachers) are comfortable with that, they've found it very exciting to use in the classroom," Bucey said.
Science teacher Bobbi Orlando demonstrated in an earth science class recently, as she reviewed concepts such as moon phases, the tides and force due to gravity.
Each student held a numbered clicker, and Orlando could see which students had registered their response and what answer a student chose.
Students saw only the class results in the form of bar graphs.
"In class, I think the best thing about the clicker is the immediate feedback for the students and myself," Orlando said. "You can assess whether or not the kids are grasping the concepts."
She uses the system in her classes periodically to review material, especially before tests and quizzes, or as she's giving a lesson.
Orlando, who's in her first year at Higgins, used the audience response systems at her previous teaching job and brought the devices into her classroom shortly after their arrival in Peabody.
Though she does much of her teaching with a laptop and a projector, she has used the systems on a limited basis this year. She hopes to incorporate them more in the future.
Her students enjoy using the devices in class, and they are engaged in the lesson when using them.
"They're always, 'Can we do more with the clickers?'" Orlando said. "It could be anything up there. They just like using them."
Later in the class, she used a slide show that looked much like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Students could compete to see who had the most right answers.
For middle-schoolers immersed in technology, the devices fit seamlessly.
"It's bringing their world to them," the teacher said.
Students say the system lets everyone participate without worrying about a wrong answer. Their results are displayed as a percent of the whole, so no one has to be singled out.
"I like them," seventh-grader Peter Kilcommons said. "I think they're fun to use. It's easier than going around the class and asking questions."
Classmate Abigail Hoffman appreciated how the system streamlined classroom questions.
"You get every response at once instead of one person at a time," she said. "It takes up less time."
Cayli Armstrong said more students can participate without being singled out. The systems also curbed a common classroom problem.
"You can't really cheat with these," she said.
Ultimately, students found the devices fun.
"It's kind of like a game," Peter said, "but you're learning."
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