Investigating the Differential Impacts of Collaborative Learning Environments on At-Risk Students in General Chemistry Courses

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Failure rates for students from historically-excluded demographic groups are disproportionately high in large-enrollment undergraduate science courses. Across scientific disciplines, there is strong consensus about the potential for collaborative activities to minimize outcome differences. However, we do not fully understand the specific features of these environments that do so or how they do so. This project seeks to serve the national interest by investigating aspects of college general chemistry instruction that may contribute to inequalities in student outcomes. The project team will identify features of collaborative learning environments that uniquely impact the success of students most at risk of failure in a large-enrollment general chemistry course. Findings from this work will inform the development and dissemination of equity-oriented curricular resources for undergraduate science education. The design of collaborative learning environments is aligned with tenets of Sociocultural Theory. Students make sense of chemical ideas when solving problems and explaining their thinking to their peers. However, the collaborative learning environments in which these sensemaking events occur are typically designed for the majority population of successful students and improvements in course outcomes for students most at risk of failure are largely coincidental. As a result, it is not clear what, how, or why specific features of these educational settings may combat inequities in student outcomes. This project will investigate aspects of collaborative learning environments in first-semester general chemistry at Stony Brook University that contribute to documented inequities in student success rates. To accomplish this goal, the project team will record students working collaboratively on general chemistry classroom activities. The recordings will then be analyzed to determine the impacts of activity design and instructor facilitation approaches on student discourse for two samples of general chemistry students. The two samples will be drawn from the majority population of students and a population of students predicted to have higher rates of failure based on incoming mathematics proficiency. These data will be supplemented with learner interviews to capture students’ voices and perspectives in the analytical process. The success of the project will be evaluated through cycles of questioning and review by an external advisory board. Findings from this work will inform the development and dissemination of equity-oriented curricular resources, including instructional activities and facilitation guides for undergraduate instructors and teaching assistants. The NSF IUSE: EHR program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.