We evaluated the use of response cards during science instruction in a fifth‐grade inner‐city classroom. The experiment consisted of two methods of student participation—hand raising and write‐on response cards—alternated in an ABAB design. During hand raising, the teacher called upon 1 student who had raised his or her hand in response to the teacher's question. During the response‐card condition, each student was provided with a laminated board on which to write one‐ or two‐word answers in response to each question asked by the teacher. Frequency of active student response was 14 times higher with response cards than with hand raising. All 22 students scored higher on next‐day quizzes and on 2‐week review tests that followed instruction with response cards than they did on quizzes and tests that covered facts and concepts taught with the han