Peer-Led Team Learning: The Workshop Model

Carl Wamser

Gwen Shusterman

Rick Pi

Cheryl Hodson

Portland State University

Concerns

• Difficult to engage students 

• High attrition rates in introductory science courses

• Even capable students are frustrated

• Feedback from industry indicates students lack:– communication skills– team problem solving skills

Barriers to Student Success

• Impersonal teaching style

• Lack of a community of learners

• Isolation

• Lack of recognition of different learning styles

• Lack of mentoring in first two years of college

Origins of the Model

• Started in early 1990’s at CUNY and the University of Rochester

• Support from NSF-DUE

• One of five major grants funding systemic initiatives for change in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum

Discipline ImplementationPLTL Courses by Discipline

65

0

28

99

4

36

118

27

149

06

Biology Chemistry Mathematics Physics

1999-2000

2000-2001

2001-2002

Geographical implementations

Number of faculty, institutions, and learning specialists

Number of Faculty, Institutions, Learning Specialists Using PLTL Workshops

4122

12

80

3525

138

55

35

Faculty Institutions LearningSpecialists

1999-2000

2000-2001

2001-2002

Number of Peer LeadersNumber of Peer Leaders and Students Using PLTL Workshops

700 914 1405

6396

9850

15064

1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002

Academic Year

Peer Leaders

Students

What is a Workshop?

• A workshop is a group of 6-8 students that meets for approximately 2 hours each week to solve problems in a course under the guidance of a peer-leader.

• Problems are selected to encourage active participation and make it impossible for a student to be a passive observer.

What Workshops are Not!

• Traditional recitations where an instructor or a TA solves problems for the students

• Tutorials

• Extra lecture

Who are the Peer Leaders?

Students who have recently done well in the course and

• have good inter-personal skills,

• are trained in leadership and learning theory,

• are facilitators, not tutors.

Faculty Role

• Lecture

• Prepare materials

• Train peer leadersIntegrate course components

• Remain closely involved with the workshops and workshop leaders(weekly meetings)

Why Workshops?

• Facilitate self-construction of knowledge

• Students become part of a community of learners

• Recognize and encourage diverse learning styles

• Less authoritative than lectures

• Provide mentoring

• Help students master content through – problem solving

– developing capacity for critical thinking

– practicing communication of scientific ideas

• Fun!

Instructional Needs

• How can we match our instructional strategies to the needs of our students?

• We need to design curricula to match our teaching to the way that students learn.

• Just as we use theory to guide experimentation and understanding of the natural world, we should use learning theory to guide curriculum design.

Learning

• “Instruction is good only when it proceeds ahead of development. Then it awakens and rouses to life an entire set of functions which are in the stage of maturing, which lie in the zone of proximal development. It is in this way that instruction plays an extremely important role in development.”

Vygotsky, Thinking and Speech: Psychological Investigations.

Constructivism

• “…learners construct their own understanding. They do not simply mirror and reflect what they read. Learners look for meaning and will try to find regularity and order in the events of the world even in the absence of full or complete information.”

E. von Glasersfeld

The Learning Pyramid

• Lecture – 5%• Reading – 10%• Audio-visual – 20%• Demonstration – 30%• Discussion group – 50%• Practice by doing – 75%• Teaching to others – 90%

< average retention rates after 24 hours

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

1. Knowledge e.g., use appropriate terminology, identify functional group structures and names

2. Comprehensione.g., draw 3-dimensional structures from various perspectives

3. Applicatione.g., use nomenclature rules to develop systematic names for complex structures

4. Analysise.g., work out the most appropriate reaction mechanism for a given situation

5. Synthesise.g., use a knowledge of many organic reactions to assemble a pathway that converts one molecule into another

6. Evaluatione.g., assess the significance or value of recent developments

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

Chapter Learning Objectives

A “Skills” web page for Chemistry 336:

Carbonyl Compounds

http://chem.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C336S04/17skills.htm

Critical Components

1. The workshop must be an integral part of the course.

2. Faculty teaching the course must be closely involved with the workshops and be supportive of workshop leaders.

3. The workshop leaders must be trained and closely supervised with regard to content and teaching/learning techniques.

4. The materials must be challenging and integrated with the other course components. They must encourage active learning.

5. Physical arrangements to promote active learning must be in place.

6. There must be institutional support for workshops.

1. Workshops integral to course

• The weekly meetings are problem- solving sessions.

• The problems presented are tied to the course schedule so that the necessary background has been discussed in lecture.

• Students are expected to have completed some pre-workshop assignments or be up to date on coursework.

2. Faculty closely involved

• Faculty are responsible for ensuring that the workshop materials are closely coordinated with course goals.

• Faculty meet with peer leaders and model ways to manage interpersonal dynamics within a team.

• Faculty ensure leaders fully understand material and can guide to correct answers.

3. Peer leader training crucial

• PLTL philosophy

• Role of the leader

• Community building

techniques

• Group behavior

• Motivation

• Collaborative learning

principles

• Diversity issues

• Learning styles

• Active listening

• Effective

communication

• Content and problem

review

Leader Training

• 69% of the workshop leaders strongly agreed that training is helpful, only 5% disagreed (1996).

• Without leader training, workshop leaders tend to default to what they know best - recitation & lecture.

Models for Leader Training

• Retreat – orientation• Faculty/peer-leader workshop

– pedagogy, content, dynamics• Faculty/leader and learning specialist /

meeting• Peer leader course

– Faculty– Learning specialist– Joint course

A well-trained leader:

• Initiates and guides group activities

• Draws in reluctant students

• Channels domineering students

• Builds on a productive team

• Uses a variety of special techniques   

• Provides information and direction without giving answers

• Responds to questions and difficulties

• Identifies conceptual weaknesses

• Provides support and encouragement

• Is sensitive to individual development and motivation

4. Workshop materials are challenging

• Each workshop session is built around a set of problems and activities.– designed and structured by the faculty

– focus on central ideas

– help students attain course goals

• The leader must work to actively engage the students with the materials and with each other.

5. Organizational arrangements

• Time and space are major issues.– Workshop sessions require a space

conducive to small group work and discussion.

– A room with a table, chairs, and a chalkboard is ideal.

• Workshops much be clearly scheduled in advance and must meet on a regular basis.

6. Institutional support

• The PLTL Workshop approach can become successfully institutionalized when– administrators understand that its goals

coincide with the larger goals of the college and the department,

– the administration recognizes and rewards innovative and effective teaching, and

– logistical and financial support are provided as well.

Some of the Nitty-Gritty

• No answer key!

• Answer keys can undermine what the workshop model is trying to create

– students’ ability to develop strategies to arrive at their own solutions

– students’ confidence in solving tough problems– students’ satisfaction in finding answers that, in

the group’s opinion, hold up under scrutiny.

Some Sample Group Techniques

• Icebreakers

• Round robin

• Pair problem-solving

• Concept mapping

• Graphic organizers

• Games

• Brainstorming – guided discussion

• Modeling – physical role-playing

• Use of manipulatives

Mistakes

• Most people have found that the exhilaration of discovery comes only after an investment of time and energy, including mistakes and dead ends.

• Workshops give students "the chance to make a lot of little mistakes." – Students describe how leaders sometimes make

mistakes, and generally, students are not afraid to challenge the leader, or to argue their point.