Peer-Led-Team Learning in Introductory Engineering Courses: An Analysis of an Interventional Method of Support for Underrepresented Students at a Two-year, Hispanic-serving Public Institution
The three-year project entitled Engagement in Engineering Pathways funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM education grant explored the conditions that led to increased academic outcomes and non-cognitive factors related to persistence of nontraditional undergraduate students in engineering education. The study was conducted at a multicampus, federally-designated, Hispanic-serving, public, two-year college in the southeast United States. This paper presents one aspect of the effects of peer-led team learning (PLTL) on academic success through the inclusion of active learning modules in introductory undergraduate engineering course. The researchers found that PLTL introduced in engineering courses, to include statics and dynamics, closed a gap between majority and minority students, populations historically underrepresented in engineering. Although the study is limited to a single institution, the results support that the inclusion of active learning modules introduced through peer-led exercises are an important learning support construct known to be a factor in academic success and persistence in engineering education
