Title
Peer instruction in computer science at small liberal arts colleges
Abstract
Peer Instruction (PI) has been shown to be successful at improving pass-rates and improving retention of majors in large classes at large research-intensive institutions. At these institutions, students have been shown to learn from peer discussion in PI and both students and faculty have reported that they value PI in their classrooms. However, little is known about the effectiveness of PI in small classrooms at teaching-focused liberal arts colleges. This study evaluates results from seven lower-division classes and four upper-division classes taught at three different liberal arts institutions using PI. In these classes, PI experienced similar success as that reported at large-research intensive universities, both in terms of student learning from peer discussion and from student attitudinal surveys. Most notably, of 137 surveyed students, 91% recommend more faculty use PI in their classes.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1145/2462476.2465587
ITiCSE
Keywords
Field
DocType
large research-intensive institution,small liberal arts college,large class,similar success,peer instruction,teaching-focused liberal arts college,student attitudinal survey,different liberal arts institution,computer science,lower-division class,faculty use pi,large-research intensive university,active learning
Peer instruction,Active learning,Computer science,Knowledge management,Liberal arts education,Pedagogy,Mathematics education,Student learning
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
11
0.87
11
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Leo Porter136737.94
Saturnino Garcia231120.48
John Glick3142.37
Andrew Matusiewicz4192.76
Cynthia Taylor55911.31