Across the University of Colorado at Boulder campus, students are using "clicker" devices to share answers, check their responses to questions against those of their neighbors and make adjustments to those answers in hopes of earning a better grade.

Tin Tin Su, an associate professor, and colleagues show how peer discussion during "clicker" questions improves results.

Clickers are audience response devices, similar to a TV remote control, that allow students to record their answers to thought-provoking, multiple-choice questions during class. After students answer a question individually, the instructor often asks them to discuss the question and then vote again before revealing the answer.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that about 50 percent of the students got the question right on the first try, but after talking to neighbors, the score jumped to 68 percent. When students individually answered a follow-up question about the same concept, the number jumped again to over 70 percent.

"Even when students in a discussion group all got the initial answer wrong, after talking to each other they were able to figure out the correct response, to learn," Su said. "That was unexpected, and I think that's dramatic."