Effects of response card color and accuracy rates on speed and accuracy of teacher instructional decisions

Unison responding incorporating response card formats is an instructional method that affords students greater opportunities to respond and teachers greater opportunities to make instructional decisions. Design of unison response card formats as well as number of students correctly responding in a group may impact accuracy of teachers' decisions regarding the next instructional step. This study investigated the effects of color or white response cards on pre-service teachers' selection of the next instructionally appropriate step in a lesson. In addition, this study examined the effects of different student accuracy response rates on pre-service teachers' ability to correctly choose relevant instructional decisions. Latency data were also collected on pre-service teachers' decisions about the correct instructional step. Participants watched video clips of varying color or white response card trials with different group response accuracy rates and selected the next instructional step after each clip. Statistically significant differences were found between color and black/white response cards and response accuracy rates that may be explained by Signal Detection Theory principles. This research suggests that teacher accuracy in instructional decision making in large groups may be enhanced by using color coded response cards rather than white response cards.