Lens to Learning: Class-wide video analysis of Peer Instruction discussions

Numerous studies show courses taught using Peer Instruction have higher learning gains than traditional courses on standardized assessments. Yet we have very few measurements of what actually happens during the peer discussion component of this pedagogy. To address this need, we recorded every student discussion in nearly every lecture of an introductory physics course at a major research university. We will present results from analysis of these student conversations, providing insight on discussion behavior over different questions. In addition, we will illustrate the interesting case of "discovery conversations," in which all students in a group answer incorrectly in the initial poll and discuss only among their group, but one or more group members answer correctly after discussion.