Abstract
Studies have demonstrated students’ resistance to active learning, despite evidence illustrating that their learning is improved relative to students in lectures. Specifically, while active learning and group work are effective at engaging students in their learning process, studies report that students’ perceptions of active learning approaches are not always positive. What remains underexplored is whether students’ perceptions of active learning improve with effective instructor facilitation and whether there exists differential perceptions between racially minoritized students and represented students. Here, we estimate students’ perceptions of effective instructor facilitation as the mediator in the relationship between active learning and perceptions of learning and perceived utility for class activities (task value). Then, we examine differences by racial identification. We collected classroom observation data to empirically categorize courses as active learning or lecture-based and surveyed 4,257 college students across 25 STEM classrooms at a research-intensive university. We first examined the relationship between active learning on student perceptions and found a negative relationship between active learning and perceptions of learning and task value for both racially minoritized students and represented students. Next, we assessed whether students’ perceptions of instructor effectiveness in facilitating group activities mediate these negative relationships. We found that, on average, students of all races were more likely to positively perceive instructor facilitation in active learning classes relative to lectures. In turn, the positive perceptions of instructor facilitation partially suppressed the negative relationship between active learning and perceptions of learning and task value. These results demonstrate that effective instructor facilitation can influence both students’ self-assessment of learning and perceived utility of the learning activities, and underscores the importance of developing pedagogical competence among college instructors.
Highlights
Active learning instruction is characterized by increased student engagement, frequent assessment of conceptual learning, and group activities [1,2,3]
A greater proportion of students in our analytical sample are identified as racially-minoritized students relative to all students enrolled at this institution (54% in our sample versus 29%)
This study found that students of all races in active learning classrooms perceived they learned less and rated the utility of the course activities lower than their peers in more lecture-based courses, despite earning similar grades
Summary
Active learning instruction is characterized by increased student engagement, frequent assessment of conceptual learning, and group activities [1,2,3]. Active learning instruction may decrease academic performance differences between racially minoritized students—defined as AfricanAmerican, Latino/Latina, Native American, Southeast Asians or Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian—and represented students [10]. Despite these collective benefits, active learning instruction has not been widely adopted in college settings [11, 12]. While it has been shown that racial gaps in academic performance decrease in active learning courses [10], we know less about whether racially-minoritized students’ perceptions of learning vary from that of their more represented peers. Racial performance gaps in active learning instruction relative to lecture-based instruction may decrease as racially minoritized students are given more feedback on their learning and are provided with scaffolded time on tasks [10]
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