Using text-scrolling to increase student engagement in the STEM classroom: a collaboration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1441Keywords:
active learning, learning environments, student engagement, collaborationAbstract
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.
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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