{"id":8662,"date":"2014-09-02T15:18:57","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T20:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=8662"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:41:48","slug":"hoganstudy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=8662","title":{"rendered":"Active learning in large science classes benefits black and first-generation college students most"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A study by biologist Kelly Hogan shows that when a traditional lecture course was made more interactive, the achievement gap disappeared for first-generation students and decreased by half for black students. (photo by Mary Lide Parker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In large college science classes, active learning interventions improve achievement for everyone, but especially black and first-generation students, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

When a traditional lecture course was structured to be more interactive, the achievement gap disappeared for first-generation students and decreased by half for black students, according to Kelly Hogan, a biologist and director of instructional innovation in UNC\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences. Transforming large lecture classes is a priority for the college.<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s study, \u201cGetting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increasing Course Structure Work?\u201d appears in the Sept. 2 issue of the journal CBE-Life Sciences Education. Her co-author is Sarah L. Eddy of the University of Washington in Seattle. Hogan and Eddy collected data over six semesters at UNC.<\/p>\n

The study compares student achievement in classes with \u201clow course structure\u201d to those with \u201chigher course structure.\u201d Low course structure is \u201ca traditional classroom where students come in, listen to the instructor, leave and don\u2019t do anything until the night before the exam,\u201d Hogan said. Higher course structure adds guided reading questions, preparatory homework and in-class activities that reinforce major concepts, study skills and higher-order thinking skills. As an example of an in-class activity, students answered questions using classroom-response software on their laptops and cell phones.<\/p>\n

Students are held accountable for the assignments\u2014 they are awarded points for being prepared and participating in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m talking at<\/em> students, they\u2019re shopping, they\u2019re on ESPN or Facebook,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cBut if I ask them a question and have them wrestle with it, they are listening now because they are engaged in solving that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hogan\u2019s study is one of the few college-level studies to separate student data by racial\/ethnic groups and first-generation status to identify which interventions work best for certain groups of students in a large science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) course.<\/p>\n

The researchers used surveys at the end of the course to learn how the interventions affected student behaviors and attitudes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that in the higher course structure, students consistently reported completing the assigned readings more frequently and spent more time studying for class, and there was an increased sense of community,\u201d Hogan said.<\/p>\n

Their study also demonstrates that active learning interventions can be transferrable from a Pacific Northwest research university to a Southern research university across three contexts: different instructors, different student populations and different courses (majors vs. nonmajors).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is good evidence that an intervention is transferrable, and I think that\u2019s going to be powerful for a lot of teachers in the field,\u201d Hogan said.<\/p>\n

More instructors are \u201cflipping\u201d their classes \u2014 putting lectures online for students to watch at home and using the classroom for more interactive, collaborative work. But if a class is not flipped with accountability, Hogan said, the students still won\u2019t come to class prepared.<\/p>\n

Hogan outlines three key takeaways for instructors that are critical for understanding how to increase student success in large lecture classes:<\/p>\n