Investigation of the Effect of Peer-Led Team Learning Model on University Students’ Exam Achievement in General Chemistry

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to compare freshmen engineering students’ exam achievement in general chemistry course using peer-led team learning model and traditional instruction and to investigate the effect of the methods on different achieving level students. A total of 128 students who were instructed by the same professor participated in the study. Both in PLTL and traditional class consisted of different engineering disciplines. Throughout the semester, PLTL model was implemented in the experimental group while traditional instruction was used in the control group. 14 peer leaders who have successfully completed general chemistry course in previous semester have been trained on basic communication and pedagogy issues and they have supported their teams in problem-solving throughout the semester. Both experimental and control group students took the same mid-terms and final exam which are constructed by the related department. The data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results indicated that low and medium achieving students’ general chemistry exam grades are statistically higher in PLTL group than those of traditional group students; however, there is no statistically significant mean difference in high achieving students’ grades across the groups.