At the center of engagement and learning

Abstract

Education Moving toward more student-centric STEM education results in an increase in student–student interactions. Do these increased peer interactions lead to learning gains? Williams et al. used network analysis—specifically, centrality, a measurement of how “central” a particular student is within the classroom network—to examine student interactions in an introductory physics classroom using modeling instruction. Students' centrality was found to predict future academic performance more than prior grade point average, suggesting that student engagement is connected to academic performance. However, this relationship did not emerge until the second half of the semester, suggesting that the relationship between engagement and academic performance, although important, is nuanced. Qualitative methods are recommended as a follow-up to further investigate how students themselves perceive their engagement in learning communities. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15 , 020150 (2019).