Enhancing Diversity in Undergraduate Science: Self-Efficacy Drives Performance Gains with Active Learning.

ABSTRACT: Efforts to retain underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have shown only limited success in higher education, due in part to a persistent achievement gap between students from historically underrepresented and well-represented backgrounds. To test the hypothesis that active learning disproportionately benefits URM students, we quantified the effects of traditional versus active learning on student academic performance, science self-efficacy, and sense of social belonging in a large (more than 250 students) introductory STEM course. A transition to active learning closed the gap in learning gains between non-URM and URM students and led to an increase in science self-efficacy for all students. Sense of social belonging also incre

SUBMITTER: Ballen CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5749958 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature