Replacing Lecture with Peer-led Workshops Improves Student Learning

Abstract

Peer-facilitated workshops enhanced interactivity in our introductory biology course, which led to increased student engagement and learning. A majority of students preferred attending two lectures and a workshop each week over attending three weekly lectures. In the workshops, students worked in small cooperative groups as they solved challenging problems, evaluated case studies, and participated in activities designed to improve their general learning skills. Students in the workshop version of the course scored higher on exam questions recycled from preworkshop semesters. Grades were higher over three workshop semesters in comparison with the seven preworkshop semesters. Although males and females benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades and increased retention by female students; although underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM students benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades by URM students. As well as improving student performance and retention, the addition of interactive workshops also improved the quality of student learning: Student scores on exam questions that required higher-level thinking increased from preworkshop to workshop semesters.

Supported Learning Groups (Slgs) in a First-Year Engineering Chemistry Course

“…Several academics have proposed a mandatory SI program may improve performance and retention [6], [14]. Despite concerns that mandating SI participation could impact students' motivation and engagement, students enrolled in mandatory SI programs have been found to perform as well as those in voluntary programs, to earn significantly higher course grades than students in the nonSl groups and to achieve higher overall term average than students in the non-Sl groups [4], [6].…”

Investigation of the Effect of Peer-Led Team Learning Model on University Students’ Exam Achievement in General Chemistry

“…ALTÖ modeli işbirlikli öğrenme modelinde olduğu gibi öğrencilerin ortak amaca ulaşmak için birlikte çalışması unsurlarını içerir (Johnson & Johnson, 1999, 2009Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1991). Akran liderli takım öğrenmesi karşılıklı olumlu bağımlılık (positive interdependence) ve yüz yüze etkileşimi bütünleştirirken aynı zamanda daha bilgili ve deneyimli bir akran lider aracılığı ile küçük grup çalışmasını ve bireysel hesap verilebilirliği desteklemektedir.…”

“…The effectiveness of the PLTL model, as one of the high impact teaching models, over students, leaders, instructors, and institutions has been measured and evaluated in many learning environments (Ba´ez-Galib, Colon-Cruz, Resto, & Rubin, 2005;Hockings, DeAngelis, & Frey, 2008;Lewis & Lewis, 2005;Lyon & Lagowski, 2008;Tien, Roth, & Kampmeier, 2002), and it has been shown that the model is sucessessful in many STEM disciplines (Hockings et al, 2008;Lewis 2011;Lyle & Robinson 2003;Lyon & Lagowski 2008;Preszler 2009;Tien et al, 2002;Wamser 2006). Since the PLTL was first implemented in chemistry, the majority of the conducted studies has been done in this area, especially conducted in general chemistry (Alger & Bahi, 2004;Ba´ez-Galib et al, 2005;Chan & Bauer, 2015;Drane, Micari, & Light, 2014;Mitchell, Ippolito, & Lewis, 2012), organic chemistry (Lyle & Robinson, 2003;Tien et al, 2002), biology (Prezler, 2009), mathematics andengineering (Liou-Mark, Dreyfuss, &Young, 2010;Loui-Mark & Robbins, 2008) and the findings support the success of the model.…”

What are we going to do about a problem like polymer chemistry? Develop new methods of delivery to improve understanding of a demanding interdisciplinary topic

“…Despite lecturers being in the most appropriate position to describe knowledge in relation to the learning being approached, it has been suggested that they often struggle to find suitable 'entry-points' for the learners (Preszler, 2009). This was a position described by the two lecturers.…”