Peer-Led Team Learning in Organic Chemistry: Effects on Student Performance, Success, and Persistence in the Course

Abstract

This paper describes the results of instituting peer-led team learning workshop sessions as optional accompaniments for the first two years of chemistry (general chemistry and organic chemistry), courses taught in large-lecture format. About 30% of the students in the courses choose to add this one-credit, two-hour weekly course. Data have been collected for the organic chemistry course over the past five years to compare the outcomes for students who selected workshops with those for students who did not select the workshop option with respect to student success (achievement of a grade of C- or higher), student persistence (completing all three terms successfully in the same academic year), and student performance (percentage of total points accumulated). Students who elected to take the workshops had a somewhat higher overall grade point average (GPA), based on all courses taken (3.26 vs 3.14). However, the gains of the workshop students in each category—success rate (85% vs 69%), three-term persistence (57% vs 28%), and course performance (71% vs 65%, course GPA of 2.90 vs 2.51, ACS exam scores at the 77th vs 69th percentile)—are all significantly greater than can be attributed solely to differences in student GPA.

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