Abstract

There are now fifteen published research reports representing courses at twenty six institutions on the impact of participation in Peer-led Team Learning (PLTL) or variants on student performance in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) coursework. PLTL implementations fall into three defined types: Type 1: a peer-led workshop replaces a lecture; Type 2: a peer-led workshop replaces a graduate student recitation; and Type 3: a peer-led workshop is an added component to the course. All three types demonstrated similar increases in student learning as measured by the percent of students obtaining an A,B, or C; or by exam grades. The issue of equivalence of control and experimental groups is examined, and a simple method is suggested to help establish equivalence. It is demonstrated that multi-linear regression models (MLR) are less informative for controlling for ability variables such as SAT scores. A more robust model, comparative linear regression (CLR), is suggested.

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