Summary

Peer-Led Team Learning is an innovative model in science education. Student-leaders (peers) guide the activities of small groups of students in weekly Workshop meetings. The students work through challenging problems that are designed to be solved cooperatively. The peer leaders are trained to ensure that the students are actively and productively engaged with the material and with the each other. This methodology offers a number of educational opportunities: the supportive format encourages questions and discussions that lead to conceptual understanding;
students learn to work in teams and to communicate more effectively; peer leaders learn teaching and group management skills. Designed exclusively for instructors, this unique book explains the theory behind peer-led team learning, offers suggestions for successful implementation (including how to write effective group problems and how to train peer leaders), discusses how to evaluate the success of the program, and answers frequently asked questions. 

Features

• Comprehensive.
• Contains all the material an instructor would need to learn about, implement, and evaluate a peer-led team learning workshop in any chemistry course.
• Versatile—This book discusses issues related to the educational methodology and not to specific courses.
• Instructors of any chemistry course can use this book.
• Evaluation is specifically addressed—If such programs are going to be implemented, they need to be shown to be successful.
• The authors discuss how and what to evaluate to satisfy external reviews of the program. Ex. ___
• Extensively class-tested—The material in the guidebook has been tested and evaluated on students at a variety of institutions and fine-tuned for efficacy and accuracy.
• The material in this guidebook forms a strong base of material that can be used as is and at once.
• Instructor Website allows constant updating.
• As this material is refined, users can receive updates and interact with those at other institutions who are implementing similar workshops.

Table Of Contents

1. The Peer-Led Team Learning Workshop Model.
2. The Students' Perspectives.
3. Writing Workshop Materials.
4. Workshop Leader Training.
5. Institutionalizing the Workshops.
6. Workshop Evaluation.
7. Vygotsky's Theories of Education: Theory Bases for Peer-Led Team Learning.
8. An Introduction to Theory and Research on Promoting Student Motivation and Autonomous Learning in College-Level Science.
9. The View from Industry.
Appendix I: Group Methods for Workshops: Specific Practice.
Appendix II: Workshop Leader Training: Specific Practice.
Appendix III: Evaluation: Specific Practice.

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Preface to the Peer-Led Team Learning Series

The Workshop Chemistry Project was an exploration, development, and application of the concept of peer-led team learning in problem-solving Workshops in introductory chemistry courses. A pilot project was first supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, in 1991. In 1995, the Workshop Chemistry Project was selected by NSF/DUE as one of five systemic initiatives to "change the way introductory chemistry is taught." In the period 1991-1998, the project grew from the initial explorations at the City College of New York to a national activity involving more than 50 faculty members at a diverse group of more than 30 colleges and universities. In 1998-1999, approximately 2500 students were guided in Workshop courses by 300 peer leaders per term. In Fall 1999, NSF chose the Workshop Project for a National Dissemination Grant to substantially broaden the chemistry participation and to extend the model to other SMET disciplines, including biology, physics and mathematics.

Peer-Led Team Learning: A Guidebook is the first of a series of five publications that report the work of the Project during the systemic initiative award (1995-1999). The purpose of these five books is to lower the energy barrier to new implementations of the model. The Guidebook is a comprehensive account that works back and forth from the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the model to reports of "best-practice" implementation and application. Three other books provide specific materials for use in Workshops: General Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; and General, Organic and Biochemistry. One book in the series, On Becoming a Peer Leader, provides materials for leader training.

The collaboration of students, faculty, and learning specialists is a central feature of the Workshop model. The project has been enriched by the talents and energy of many participants. Some of their names are found throughout these books; many others are not identified. In either case, we are most grateful to all those who have advanced the model by their keen insight and enthusiastic commitment.

We also acknowledge, with pleasure, the support of the National Science Foundation, NSF/DUE 9450627 and NSF/DUE 9455920. Our work on the second NSF award was skillfully guided by our National Visiting Committee, Michael Gaines, Chair; Joseph Casanova; Patricia Cuniff; David Evans; Eli Fromm; John Johnson; Bonnie Kaiser; Clark Landis; Kathleen Parson; Arlene Russell; Frank Sutman; Jeffrey Steinfeld; and Ronald Thornton; we value their advice and encouragement. The text of the Guidebook was repeatedly processed by Arlene Bristol, with exceptional skill and remarkable patience. Finally, we appreciate the vision and commitment of John Challice and Prentice Hall to make this work readily available to a large audience.

Books are written for you, the readers. We welcome your comments and insights. Please contact us at the indicated e-mail addresses.

The Editors, Fall 1999

David K. Gosser — gosser@scisun.sci.ccny.cuny.edu
Mark S. Cracolice — markc@selway.umt.edu
J. A. Kampmeier — kamp@chem.rochester.edu
Vicki Roth — vrth@mail.rochester.edu
Victor S. Strozak — vstrozak@gc.cuny.edu
Pratibha Varma-Nelson — varmanelson@sxu.edu

 

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