Effect of prior knowledge and peer evaluation ratings on final exam performance in a team-based learning chemistry course

Abstract

IntroductionVarious reports have been published regarding adoption of team-based learning (TBL) in pharmacy education. However, there is insufficient published evidence on the effect of student characteristics on student learning outcomes in a TBL curriculum. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of pre-study examination results and peer evaluation ratings on learning outcomes. MethodsThe TBL strategy was adopted for a basic chemistry exercise for first-year students at a private pharmacy school in Japan (2012–2019). For the analysis, students were divided into four analytical groups according to quartiles of pre-study examination results. The students were further divided into the high-peer evaluation rating group and low-peer evaluation rating group. We compared the final exam performance results between these groups. ResultsIn all four groups by quartiles of pre-study examination results, the course final exam performance was higher for the high-peer evaluation rating students than for the low-peer evaluation rating students. ConclusionsWithin the TBL framework, students with higher peer evaluation scores performed better on the final exam, regardless of the pre-study examination results.