Peer-led Team Learning Model Research Articles

The Effects of Using Peer-Led Team Learning Model in Science Courses on Students

This study aims to explore the views of the fourth-year science teaching undergraduate program students and science education master's program students regarding the effects of using the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model in science courses on the students. The working group consisted of 56 participants, 28 undergraduate and 28 graduate students. The study deployed a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview form. Content analysis was used during data analysis. The results suggested that the PLTL model have positive and negative effects on peer and leader students in terms of "learning", "motivation/attitude" and "skills". The number of participants emphasizing positive effects in both questionnaire and interview data was much higher than those referring to negative effects. In other words, more participants agreed on positive effects. Upon examining the possible positive and negative effects of the PLTL model, the positive effects were identified to be valuable for the education process, and the negative effects may be eliminated or minimized.

Development of Interactive E-Workbook Based on Peer-Led Team Learning on Collaboration Skills and Critical Thinking in Basic Chemistry Concept

Many students struggle to understand chemistry because it is abstract, conceptual, and involves numerous mathematical operations. Collaboration skills are needed for students to develop collaborative and critical thinking as part of 21st century life skills. This study aims to develop an interactive e-workbook based on PLTL (Peer-Led Team Learning) that meets the criteria of being valid, practical, and effective against collaboration and critical thinking skills. This research is an ADDIE-based development research with analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation stages. Limited trials were conducted on students in basic chemistry classes. The validation results show that e-workbook is valid, practical, and effective. The results of limited trial showed that collaboration skills improved in the good category with average score is 75%, and critical thinking skills improved in the medium category with average score is 0.33. It shows that the interactive e-workbook based on the PLTL model can improve collaboration and critical thinking skills and can be used to solve problems in group discussions with the help of an expert leader.

Sustainability Matters: Advocating for the Establishment and Continuation of Peer-Led Team Learning

The successful dissemination of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model at multiple institutions of higher education, in the United States and other countries, is reflected in the number of publications (see www.pltlis.org). However, many PLTL campus programs are no longer active or exist. This may be due, more recently, to the COVID pandemic and its disruptions. Historically, programs no longer exist because grant funding that supported the initiative ended; other reasons include the promotion, retirement, or even death of the practitioners whose work championing their PLTL program ended. What can sustain a campus PLTL program so that its benefits continue to accrue to students and Peer Leaders, and positively affect institutions’ retention, graduation rates, and mission over decades? This paper examines the strategies used to disseminate the PLTL model; presents suggested prescriptions for institutional adoption regarding climate, culture, and organizational learning; provides case studies of possible sustainability methods and compares the PLTL critical components to suggestions for creating sustainable educational innovations.

Peer Led Team Learning in a Foundational IPE Curriculum

BACKGROUND The Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model utilizes Peer Leaders, advanced students who mentor and guide student teams to collaborate on applied course concepts. PURPOSE To apply a modified PLTL model in the university’s foundational, longitudinal, competency-based interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum. METHODS Twelve Peer Leaders were selected, trained, and deployed as facilitators for interprofessional teams of students during the IPE curriculum’s first three large-scale learning events. Peer Leaders completed an evaluation of training, a facilitation skills survey, and participated in a semi-structured focus group interview process. RESULTS After participating in the PLTL program, Peer Leaders reported increased confidence in their interprofessional knowledge and facilitation skills. The primary challenge for Peer Leaders in facilitating teams was lack of student engagement (n=7, 58%). CONCLUSION PLTL is a feasible model for IPE settings. It has the potential to both increase facilitator capacity in interprofessional learning activities and have a positive impact on Peer Leaders.

The effect of peer-led team learning on undergraduate engineering students’ conceptual understanding, state anxiety, and social anxiety

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of a Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model with that of traditional college instruction (TCI) in enhancing the conceptual understanding and reducing both the state anxiety and social anxiety of undergraduate engineering students in a general chemistry course in a quasi-experimental design. 128 engineering students taking the course participated in the study. One of the course sections was randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other section was assigned to the control group. Both sections were taught by the same instructor. The control group was instructed using traditional college instruction, while the experimental group was instructed using the PLTL model. Throughout this study, six peer-led chemistry workshops and leader training sessions were performed simultaneously. The General Chemistry Concept Test, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults were administered before and after the treatment to both groups. One-way Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) indicated that after controlling students’ university entrance scores, trait anxiety scores and pre-test scores of both the General Chemistry Concept Test and state anxiety, the PLTL model was more effective in improving the conceptual understanding and reducing the situational anxiety of engineering students in undergraduate general chemistry. However, it was not so effective in lessening their social anxiety when compared to traditional college instruction.

Teaching Students To Be Instrumental in Analysis: Peer-Led Team Learning in the Instrumental Laboratory

Many instrumental analysis students develop limited skills as the course rushes through different instruments to ensure familiarity with as many methodologies as possible. This broad coverage comes at the expense of superficiality of learning and a lack of student confidence and engagement. To mitigate these issues, a peer-led team learning model was developed to give each student in-depth experiences operating and troubleshooting six common instruments. Electronic cigarette solutions were chosen for all work because of their current relevance. Small groups became “class experts” on their assigned instrument. Students were responsible for teaching their peers how to utilize their instrument for experimentation. Each student rotated through their peer’s instruments, learned to apply the knowledge they gained from one instrument to others, while they answered questions from peers. The students developed troubleshooting and communication skills—foundational tools for chemists. This model proved successful in...

Small Groups, Significant Impact: A Review of Peer-Led Team Learning Research with Implications for STEM Education Researchers and Faculty

Peer-led team learning (PLTL) research has expanded from its roots in program evaluation of student success measures in Workshop Chemistry to a spectrum of research questions and qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods study approaches. In order to develop recommendations for PLTL research and propose best practices for faculty who will integrate PLTL in their classrooms, the theoretical frameworks, study designs, results, and limitations of sixty-seven peer-reviewed studies, spanning a variety of STEM disciplines and institution types, were examined. Five program evaluation themes emerged from this synthesis of the literature: student success measures; student perceptions; reasoning and critical thinking skills; research on peer leaders; and variants of the PLTL model. For each of the themes, areas for future study and implications for practice are suggested to STEM discipline-based education researchers and faculty.

A stopgap laboratory experience

Education As science education moves toward lab-based courses, what happens to students without access to a lab? One option is peer-led team learning (PLTL), a cooperative-learning strategy that encourages students to actively engage in learning. Snyder et al. hypothesized that a PLTL model would lead to increased achievement for students not enrolled in an optional lab course. Non–lab course PLTL students participated in active problem-solving, resulting in this group averaging a letter-grade higher than their nonlab peers without PLTL. This difference was statistically significant, suggesting that PLTL workshops almost entirely closed the achievement gap for students without access to a lab. Although successful, the authors caution against using PLTL workshops as a replacement for laboratory experience. CBE Life Sci. Educ. 14 :ar2 (2015).

Peer–Led Team Learning Model in a Graduate–Level Nursing Course

The peer-led team learning (PLTL) model was introduced into a graduate-level course in health economics at our school of nursing. We believed this collaborative learning program, emphasizing peer-to-peer interaction to solve complex problems, would increase student engagement and mastery of course content. The course was redesigned to accommodate a weekly 1-hour workshop conducted by peer leaders. To gain better understanding of the effect of the PLTL model, focus groups were conducted at the end of the course. Evaluation of the focus group discussions showed that peer-led workshops helped students understand the subject matter. The opportunity to discuss concepts taught during lecture with their peers helped deepen students' understanding of the material and apply this knowledge in the classroom. These findings support continuation of the PLTL model in future health economics classes and suggest that this approach may be beneficial in other graduate level-nursing courses.

Peer-Led Team Learning: 2008 James Flack Norris Award Address

This paper offers an overview of the development of the peer-led team learning (PLTL) model for teaching and learning chemistry, from the personal journeys of the authors in their classrooms to the national dissemination of the model to the full range of colleges and universities and to other STEM disciplines. In the PLTL model, students who have done well in the course serve as peer-leaders to facilitate Workshops that supplement the lecture part of the course for new students. In the weekly Workshops, 6−8 students engage in active debate, discussion, and problem solving under the guidance of the peer leaders. A diverse faculty team led the development of instructional materials for the Workshops, methods to train peer leaders, and tactics to institutionalize PLTL. Students and leaders value the peer-led Workshops, and results from within the PLTL project (as well as numerous independent studies) demonstrate significant gains in student learning for both groups. PLTL remains an active area of research an...

Peer-Led Team Learning in General Chemistry: Implementation and Evaluation

Peer-led team-learning (PLTL) groups have been implemented in both semesters of the general chemistry series at Washington University. We have adapted the PLTL model to fit into a traditional university structure (classes are large; there are multiple sections with different instructors; and graduate students are teaching assistants in the course) by establishing an optional PLTL program outside the course structure. Using data from the fall semesters of 2003 and 2004, we found that students who participated in PLTL groups performed approximately one-third of a grade point (an average of B versus B-) higher in our first-semester General Chemistry course compared with students who opted not to participate, even after controlling for differences in the students' background characteristics. These results of PLTL's effect on students' performance and attitudes correspond to those found in PLTL programs elsewhere. This improved performance was obtained even though our PLTL-participating students were less prepared quantitatively than our non-PLTL-participating students. In addition, we conducted an attitudinal study, and found that students participating in the PLTL program reported having positive attitudes about the program and the effects of PLTL on their performance in the class. We also found some gender difference in attitudes towards group study and interactions.