Expanding in-class peer leadership format to large class sizes

Introductory college courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) often pose a significant hurdle to college students, and are disproportionately challenging for student from historically underserved groups and first-generation students. We have developed a student-centered active learning format that incorporates elements from Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) to engage students in active learning, teamwork, and peer leadership in to large classroom settings. This Integrated Peer Learning Program (IPLP) format has shown high learning gains and a substantial reduction in the failure rate for students, as well as a substantial reduction in achievement gap among historically underserved groups in STEM, when used in 80-student classrooms.

Here, we present our findings from offering the IPLP format in a 120-student classroom, a 50% scale increase. We investigate student success rate measured by formative assessments and class passing rates, as well as team cohesion. We find that even in a format which does not rely heavily on direct instructor interaction with students, the increase in class size is detrimental. Future studies will compare the efficacy of the IPLP format with other active learning modalities offered concurrently.