Astronomy clicker question: they might be giants

Astronomy 210, Spring Semester 2009
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students were asked the following clicker question (Classroom Performance System, einstruction.com) in the middle of their learning cycle:

A __________ main sequence star will eventually become a giant.
(A) massive.
(B) medium-mass.
(C) low-mass.
(D) (More than one of the above choices.)
(E) (None of the above choices.)
(F) (I'm lost, and don't know how to answer this.)

Section 30674 (pre-)
(A) : 5 students
(B) : 19 students
(C) : 13 students
(D) : 4 students
(E) : 3 student
(F) : 0 students

This question was asked again after displaying the tallied results with the lack of consensus, with the following results. No comments were made by the instructor, in order to see if students were going to be able to discuss and determine the correct answer among themselves.

Section 30674 (post-)
(A) : 0 students
(B) : 32 students
(C) : 10 students
(D) : 1 student
(E) : 1 student
(F) : 0 students

Correct answer: (B)

A medium-mass main sequence star will become a giant when it depletes the hydrogen in its core, and the outer layers will eventually be ejected as a planetary nebula, with a white dwarf exposed at its center.

Pre- to post- peer-interaction gains:
pre-interaction correct = 43%
post-interaction correct = 72%
Hake (normalized) gain <g> = 52%