Explaining the Efficacy of Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry

About This Grant

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving the efficacy of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), an evidence-based teaching practice in STEM education. PLTL prepares students who recently completed a course to return to the course and lead new students in small group work. Approximately one-third of introductory chemistry instructors report using Peer-Led Team Learning in their teaching. The research literature has documented improved student achievement associated with this teaching practice. This Level 1 Engaged Student Learning project plans to investigate different theoretical explanations for why PLTL is successful. The results of this project are expected to inform instructors who use Peer-Led Team Learning in large-enrollment courses regarding how to improve college science teaching practices and students' academic success. To investigate how Peer-Led Team Learning is effective in promoting student learning this project plans to test three distinct, theoretical explanations: Zone of Proximal Development, Generative Learning Theory, and Identity Theory. The project plans begin with a naturalistic study design in which predictions made from the theories are examined based on evidenced collected with the enactment of PLTL in general chemistry courses. Next, based on the naturalistic study, the project team will conduct intervention studies in which each theory will be used to inform unique adaptations to PLTL. The project design compares the relative impact of each adaptation on student learning and, in so doing, investigates the potential for leveraging each theoretical explanation to improve student success. Finally, a set of conceptual replication studies are planned to examine whether the interventions' impacts are replicable at the home institution and generalizable to two other institutions. Dissemination of the results will include sharing findings and implications with science educators and hosting a virtual workshop to support educators' adoption and adaptation of the instructional interventions. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.