Instructor facilitation mediates students' negative perceptions of active learning instruction.

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• STEM Education

Background:

• Students exhibit resistance to active learning despite its proven benefits for learning and engagement.
• Existing research indicates that student perceptions of active learning are not consistently positive, particularly concerning group work.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if effective instructor facilitation mediates the relationship between active learning and student perceptions of learning and task value.
• To examine potential differential perceptions of active learning between racially minoritized and represented students.

Main Methods:

• Classroom observation data used to categorize courses as active learning or lecture-based.
• Survey data collected from 4,257 college students across 25 STEM classrooms at a research-intensive university.
• Statistical analysis employed to assess mediation effects and racial differences in perceptions.

Main Results:

• Active learning initially showed a negative relationship with student perceptions of learning and task value for all students.
• Students perceived instructor facilitation more positively in active learning classrooms compared to lectures, irrespective of race.
• Positive perceptions of instructor facilitation partially mitigated the initial negative relationship between active learning and student perceptions.

Conclusions:

• Effective instructor facilitation is a key factor in improving student perceptions of active learning and its utility.
• Pedagogical competence among instructors is crucial for maximizing the benefits of active learning strategies.
• Addressing potential disparities in perceptions between different racial groups requires further investigation into facilitation effectiveness.