Equivalence Based Instruction by Group Based Clicker Training and Sorting Tests

Abstract

Equivalence classes were formed of the names (A), time periods (B), and characteristics (C) of three stages of prenatal development of the students in a classroom. The baseline relations for these classes (AB and CB) were established on a group basis by the students in a classroom through the use of “feedback-enhanced clicker-training”. Thereafter, class formation was tracked on an individual basis with a very quickly administered sorting test. Classes emerged immediately for 84 % of 32 students in a single 75-minute class session. Thus, many students showed the immediate formation of equivalence classes when training was done on a group basis with a feedback-enhanced form of clicker training, and a sorting test was used to track class formation. We also considered some likely mechanisms that could account for learning the baseline relations by individual participants during clicker training. Finally, we considered the feasibility of using a clickers and sorting protocol to implement equivalence-based instruction.