Presenters: Inori Tsuchiya, College of Life Sciences, Bioinformatics
Authors: Tullis M, Bailey EG, Carlson D, Hudson C, Morales K, Smith C, Stalnaker J, Tsuchiya I
Faculty Advisor: Liz Bailey, College of Life Sciences, Biology Science Education
Institution: Brigham Young University
Because of high student-to-instructor ratios, pedagogical techniques that increase interaction are in high demand. Reciprocal peer tutoring is an easy-to-implement approach since there are as many peer tutors available as there are students in the class. We previously conducted a study implementing a regular peer tutoring (Teach and Question) assignment in a large introductory biology class. Students in one section completed the Teach and Question homework assignment by meeting with a peer outside of class and taking turns teaching or asking questions about assigned learning objectives. The other section of this course simply reviewed the learning objectives for the same amount of time individually, the Review assignment. The Teach and Question assignment increased student exam performance by an average of two half letter grades (e.g. from a B to an A-), and the number of questions asked during the session was a predictor of final exam performance. Because the Review assignment did not require students to review the material vocally nor explicitly ask questions, the benefits of the Teach and Question assignment could be due to the vocalization of the material, the asking of questions, and/or the social interaction between peers. In this follow-up study, we explicitly tested the hypothesis that the social interaction increases learning by implementing the Teach and Question assignment in one section of an introductory biology course and the Review and Question assignment in a second section. For the Review and Question assignment, students were required to individually review the material vocally and ask questions as they studied and submit an audio recording of their study session. Thus, comparing student performance between these two sections will allow us to determine whether social interaction is required to reap the benefits of this recurring homework assignment, or whether it can be done individually with the same benefits.