Active Student Responding

Active student responses are observable behaviors made by students following specific instructional stimuli. Active student responses are one part of what has been referred to as a learning trial or a learn unit, which consists of the presentation of an instructional antecedent for a student response (i.e., an opportunity to respond) followed by a student's active response directed to the instructional antecedent, which is either contingently reinforced (if correct) or followed by corrective feedback. Examples of active student responses include words read orally, words written, steps taken, hands raised, and math problems calculated. The demarcation of active responses indicates that they are not only observable but also measurable. Therefore, descriptors of student responses such as thinking or understanding are not satisfactory.

Active student responding is considered the most accurate measure of student academic responding during instruction because the responses provide a direct measure of the primary behavior of interest (student use of desired content), indicate how much learning has taken place, can be measured across all instructional contexts, and can be simple for teachers to measure. Measurement of these behaviors ensures that relevant responses are occurring, and the responses provide antecedents for instructors to use when reinforcing or providing feedback.

Instructors' ability to establish and motivate active responding affects each student's rate of learning. The active responding variable is readily alterable by changes in instruction, has been shown to be sensitive to change in teacher behavior, and is considered a sensitive indicator of both proximal and distal effects of instruction. Although evidence clearly indicates that increased active responding results in more learning, perhaps through building fluency or by providing more opportunities for teacher feedback, and is related to increased on-task behavior and decreased undesirable social behavior, seldom is measurement of active responding recommended in the literature on effective instruction in classrooms.

Minimal rates for correct student responding have empirical support. Rates greater than four per minute are suggested during student acquisition of new information, and rates greater than nine per minute are recommended during review and practice activities, including independent seatwork. However, literature providing results of investigations of classroom instruction for students in general education classes and special education classrooms indicates that this rate of active responding is seldom observed. For example, in classrooms for students with behavior disorders, most evaluations have consistently found that students' active responding occurs at a rate of fewer than one per minute.

A variety of methods that can be used to increase active responding of students is available. Choral responding, which is typically characterized by the use of signals to prompt unison responses (usually verbal) from a group of students, has empirical support for use to increase students' active responding. The use of response cards, or signs (including individual whiteboards), has empirical support for use to increase written unison responses. Response cards might include individual responses written by students or might require the selection of a desired preprinted card to match an instructional stimulus. Finally, guided notes provide opportunities for increased active responses during teacher lecture activities.

...