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Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class

Providing students with one-on-one interaction with instructors is a big challenge in large courses. One solution is to have students interact with their peers during class. Reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) is a more involved interaction that requires peers to alternate the roles of “teacher” and “stu...

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Autores principales: Bailey, E. G., Baek, D., Meiling, J., Morris, C., Nelson, N., Rice, N. S., Rose, S., Stockdale, P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5998311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29749838
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.17-12-0259
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author Bailey, E. G.
Baek, D.
Meiling, J.
Morris, C.
Nelson, N.
Rice, N. S.
Rose, S.
Stockdale, P.
author_facet Bailey, E. G.
Baek, D.
Meiling, J.
Morris, C.
Nelson, N.
Rice, N. S.
Rose, S.
Stockdale, P.
author_sort Bailey, E. G.
collection PubMed
description Providing students with one-on-one interaction with instructors is a big challenge in large courses. One solution is to have students interact with their peers during class. Reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) is a more involved interaction that requires peers to alternate the roles of “teacher” and “student.” Theoretically, advantages for peer tutoring include the verbalization and questioning of information and the scaffolded exploration of material through social and cognitive interaction. Studies on RPT vary in their execution, but most require elaborate planning and take up valuable class time. We tested the effectiveness of a “teach and question” (TQ) assignment that required student pairs to engage in RPT regularly outside class. A quasi-experimental design was implemented: one section of a general biology course completed TQ assignments, while another section completed a substitute assignment requiring individuals to review course material. The TQ section outperformed the other section by ∼6% on exams. Session recordings were coded to investigate correlation between TQ quality and student performance. Asking more questions was the characteristic that best predicted exam performance, and this was more predictive than most aspects of the course. We propose the TQ as an easy assignment to implement with large performance gains.
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spelling pubmed-59983112018-07-02 Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class Bailey, E. G. Baek, D. Meiling, J. Morris, C. Nelson, N. Rice, N. S. Rose, S. Stockdale, P. CBE Life Sci Educ Article Providing students with one-on-one interaction with instructors is a big challenge in large courses. One solution is to have students interact with their peers during class. Reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) is a more involved interaction that requires peers to alternate the roles of “teacher” and “student.” Theoretically, advantages for peer tutoring include the verbalization and questioning of information and the scaffolded exploration of material through social and cognitive interaction. Studies on RPT vary in their execution, but most require elaborate planning and take up valuable class time. We tested the effectiveness of a “teach and question” (TQ) assignment that required student pairs to engage in RPT regularly outside class. A quasi-experimental design was implemented: one section of a general biology course completed TQ assignments, while another section completed a substitute assignment requiring individuals to review course material. The TQ section outperformed the other section by ∼6% on exams. Session recordings were coded to investigate correlation between TQ quality and student performance. Asking more questions was the characteristic that best predicted exam performance, and this was more predictive than most aspects of the course. We propose the TQ as an easy assignment to implement with large performance gains. American Society for Cell Biology 2018 /pmc/articles/PMC5998311/ /pubmed/29749838 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.17-12-0259 Text en © 2018 E. G. Bailey et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2018 The American Society for Cell Biology. “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License.
spellingShingle Article
Bailey, E. G.
Baek, D.
Meiling, J.
Morris, C.
Nelson, N.
Rice, N. S.
Rose, S.
Stockdale, P.
Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title_full Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title_fullStr Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title_full_unstemmed Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title_short Learning Gains from a Recurring “Teach and Question” Homework Assignment in a General Biology Course: Using Reciprocal Peer Tutoring Outside Class
title_sort learning gains from a recurring “teach and question” homework assignment in a general biology course: using reciprocal peer tutoring outside class
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5998311/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29749838
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.17-12-0259
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