Using text-scrolling to increase student engagement in the STEM classroom: a collaboration

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1441

Keywords:

active learning, learning environments, student engagement, collaboration

Abstract

The benefits of using active-learning approaches to increase student engagement and participation in the HE classroom are well known (Allsop et al., 2020). In STEM disciplines specifically, active-learning approaches can contribute to a reduction in achievement gaps for underrepresented students by promoting self-efficacy and a sense of belonging (Kovarik, Robinson and Wenzel, 2022). Despite these benefits, academics in those disciplines may be reluctant to adopt active learning for reasons such as lack of familiarity or more time spent in traditional, lecture-style delivery (Arnaud, 2021).

This presentation reported on the outcome of a small-scale pedagogical innovation in one tutorial of a first-year undergraduate theory module in Chemistry. The aim was to increase students’ classroom engagement in the tutorial by using a text-mapping activity with scrolled research papers (Abegglen et al., 2019), with the additional benefit of introducing tutors to this active-learning technique. The transcript of a professional conversation between a Chemistry lecturer and Learning Developer discussing the approach along with slides outlining a typical session were circulated to tutors a week prior to the timetabled tutorial.

Qualitative feedback from tutors was presented to indicate the success of the text-mapping activity as a way of increasing student engagement in the tutorial. Insights were also gained about tutors’ own perceptions of pedagogical value and confidence in adopting such approaches in future. Implications were presented for how the first-year tutorials might be redesigned to include more active learning, as well as how Learning Developers can work in collaboration with academic colleagues in STEM programmes.

Author Biographies

Suzy Beck, University of Leeds

Suzy Beck has been a Learning Advisor at the University of Leeds since 2022, where she is currently aligned to the Schools of Chemistry, Maths, and Physics. She has a background in primary teaching and first made the move into higher education in 2018 to work as a specialist Study Skills Tutor at Leeds Beckett University. In addition to her professional role, she is engaged in doctoral research in the area of disability and inclusion as part of the Higher Education Research programme at Lancaster University.

Jenny Eyley, University of Leeds

Jenny Eyley is a lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Leeds. Alongside her teaching, she is primarily interested in Chemistry education and scholarship, with a focus on surfacing skills, the hidden curriculum, and the language and linguistics of chemistry.

References

Abegglen, S., Burns, T., Middlebrook, D. and Sinfield, S. (2019) ‘Unrolling the text: using scrolls to facilitate academic reading’, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (14), pp.1−12. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.v0i14.467

Allsop, J., Young, S., Nelson, E., Piatt, J. and Knapp, D. (2020) ‘Examining the benefits associated with implementing an active learning classroom among undergraduate students’, International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 32(3), pp.418−426. Available at: https://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE3877.pdf (Accessed: 9 October 2024).

Arnaud, C. (2021) ‘Faculty beliefs about active learning hinder adoption’, C&EN: Chemical and Engineering News, 99(9), p.7. Available at: https://cen.acs.org/education/undergraduate-education/Faculty-beliefs-active-learning-hinder/99/i9 (Accessed: 9 October 2024).

Kovarik, M., Robinson, J. and Wenzel, T. (2022) Active learning in the Analytical Chemistry classroom. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.

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Published

31-10-2024

How to Cite

Beck, S. and Eyley, J. (2024) “Using text-scrolling to increase student engagement in the STEM classroom: a collaboration”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (32). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1441.