Required peer-cooperative learning improves retention of STEM majors

Abstract

Background: Peer-cooperative learning has been shown in the literature to improve student success in gateway science and mathematics courses. Such studies typically demonstrate the impact of students' attending peer-led learning sessions on their learning or grades in an individual course. In this article, we examine the effects of introducing a required, comprehensive peer-cooperative learning system across five departments simultaneously at a master's public university, looking not only at students' success in supported classes, but also their retention within STEM fields two years hence. Combining institutional demographic data with students' course grades and retention rates, we compare outcomes between 456 students who took their major's introductory course in the two years prior to implementation of the program, and 552 students who did so after implementation. Results: While these two student groups did not significantly differ in either their demographic profile or their SAT scores, the post-implementation group earned significantly higher grades in their introductory courses in each major, due largely to an erasure of the mediating effect of SAT scores on course grades. Further, this increase in introductory course grades was also associated with an increase in the two-year retention rate of students in STEM majors. Conclusions: This finding is significant as it suggests that implementing comprehensive educational reform using required peer-led cooperative learning may have the proximate effect of mitigating differences in academic preparation (as measured by SAT scores) for students in introductory STEM courses. Furthermore, this increase in success leads to increased retention rates in STEM, expanding the pipeline of students retained in such fields.

Development and Evaluation of Scales for Measuring Self-Efficacy and Teaching Beliefs of Students Facilitating Peer-Supported Pedagogies

“…Near-peer facilitators are selected based on success in the course that they will be working within; although not a requirement, many peer instructors have experienced peer-supported pedagogies in the course for which they are assisting. Near-peers guide students through individual and small group activities ranging from single classroom-response system questions (e.g., clicker questions), to back-of-the-chapter textbook problems, to multi-question guided learning worksheets (e.g., Tien, Roth, & Kampmeier, 2002;Michael, 2006;Arendale, 2010;Salomone & Kling, 2017;Freeman et al, 2014;Perera, Wei, & Mlsna, 2019). While peer instructors often answer questions, the goal of a near-peer is to 'facilitate' learning; therefore, they often respond to student questions with a different question to help guide students to their own answer (Wilson & Varma-Nelson, 2016;Tenney & Houck, 2003;Drane, Smith, Light, Pinto, & Stewart, 2005;Tien, Roth, & Kampmeier, 2002;Arendale, 2010;Salomone & Kling, 2017;Freeman et al, 2014;Perera, Wei, & Mlsna, 2019).…”

“…Near-peers guide students through individual and small group activities ranging from single classroom-response system questions (e.g., clicker questions), to back-of-the-chapter textbook problems, to multi-question guided learning worksheets (e.g., Tien, Roth, & Kampmeier, 2002;Michael, 2006;Arendale, 2010;Salomone & Kling, 2017;Freeman et al, 2014;Perera, Wei, & Mlsna, 2019). While peer instructors often answer questions, the goal of a near-peer is to 'facilitate' learning; therefore, they often respond to student questions with a different question to help guide students to their own answer (Wilson & Varma-Nelson, 2016;Tenney & Houck, 2003;Drane, Smith, Light, Pinto, & Stewart, 2005;Tien, Roth, & Kampmeier, 2002;Arendale, 2010;Salomone & Kling, 2017;Freeman et al, 2014;Perera, Wei, & Mlsna, 2019). Learning facilitation, in this way, requires confidence in facilitating learning as well as a belief that collaborative learning is an effective pedagogy.…”

Primetime learning: collaborative and technology-enhanced studying with genuine teacher presence

“…The relationships in the groups anchor the students into studying and help to address the persistence problem (Waldrop 2015). Most importantly, acquiring compatible friends through grouping can improve student retention (Salomone and Kling 2017) and lower drop-off rates (Wilcox et al 2005), the very challenges we aim to address. Thus, our starting point to developing the model was to divide the students into small groups.…”

Are Faculty Changing? How Reform Frameworks, Sampling Intensities, and Instrument Measures Impact Inferences about Student-Centered Teaching Practices

“…A growing body of empirical work continues to bolster these policy recommendations. RBIS have been found to increase learning outcomes, enhance sense of belonging, and improve retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM; Booker, 2007;Freeman et al, 2014;Salamone and Thomas, 2017). Moreover, RBIS have been found to disproportionately benefit students from backgrounds underrepresented in science (Theobald et al, 2020).…”