Energy in GEES toolkit: In-class voting systems

This exercise is aimed at gaining an immediate insight into student understanding and respond to various questions or misconceptions. It is a good starting point for further discussions and explanations. It also enables increased participation in the classroom. Students can vote in the classical way by raising their hand or using two coloured cards, one for ‘negative’ answers, and the other for ‘positive’ answers. Students can also vote by using electronic voting systems such as clickers, PRS, EVS, doofers or voting pads. More information about classroom voting with clickers can be found at: http://nlutie.com/krudis/senteos/12tips.pdf. Another alternative is to use some of the online voting platforms (e.g. http://www.polleverywhere.com/). First, a poll should be created online about the chosen question. The type of question can be with a simple answer, a multiple choice or an open answer.  The voting can be by sending a SMS, using a smartphone’s web browser, sending a ‘tweet’ on Twitter, or on a computer via the web. Voting instructions should be provided before the voting begins. The voting results can be updated on screen.

Example 1: ‘Is municipal solid waste a renewable energy source?’

Example 2: ‘Do we need new technologies in order to have low carbon cities?’

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