DON’T ASK WHY

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DAVID VOGEL
There is now a new way of taking quizzes and tests in school. Instead of writing answers on a piece of paper and handing it in, we now have remote controls that we point at a little disc and then select our answers.

What are these new hand-held test-takers called? Clickers.

The name in itself is a little humorous. When you hear about something that’s called a “clicker,” wouldn’t you expect it to make a little noise. Not a lot of noise, but just enough to be heard?

Well, Clickers don’t. The little buttons are actually a kind of rubber. When you push them to answer your question, there is no sound whatsoever.

Let me explain how these gadgets work. They look like a little TV remote control. They are blue and somewhat transparent because you can see the computer chips inside.

(That’s the part that won me over right away. I didn’t even have to use them and I already liked them!)

There are about six little white, rubber buttons labeled “A,” “B,” “C,”etc., etc., etc. (For anyone who saw “The King and I” [hey, is it legal in the world of the English language to have this many parenthesis?]).

When you get to a certain question, you choose the appropriate answer, labeled with the A, B or C (etc.) and click on it. On the TV screen, it will show your clicker number, and what question it is on. Every time you answer a question, it will automatically move to the next question.

To actually send your answer to the computer, you point your clicker to a small, blue disc. The disk looks slightly like a flying saucer.

I think my teacher, Mr. Knoll, said it best when he said, “I’m expecting little aliens to come out of this thing any minute.”

Not only are these things fun to use, they also make it a lot easier on the teachers. The data is automatically sent to the computer gradebook. Now the teachers don’t have to write down as much!

I guess I’m all for the clickers. I think its nice to have so much technology in our school. Compared to a lot of other schools, our facilities are really nice. We have big rooms, decked out with at least one computer and TV, a nice staff and so much more.

We even have pretty good school lunches-lets see other schools beat that!

Don’t ask why!

More from article archives
Big lift / Some 400 athletes compete in the 3A state powerlifting meet in Marion
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL The Marion High School gymnasium was a beehive...
Read More