Overcoming Student Resistance to Active Learning: Early Insights from a Promising Intervention

Active learning is associated with improved outcomes in STEM courses especially among marginalized students. But the risk that students may misunderstand or dislike these techniques remains a barrier to instructor adoption of them. Coaching to Learn addresses student misperceptions about active learning directly using a curriculum that fosters metacognition in tandem with training in cognitive science-based learning strategies. Our randomized controlled trial embeds coaching in introductory calculus, a large course with a diverse student population and reputation for rigor. Before the fall 2022 semester began, the 504 students enrolled in Calculus 1 were randomly assigned to one of two 4-week treatments worth four percent of their final course grade: "Information only" provided students with online modules about effective strategies, including retrieval, spacing, interleaving, and elaboration. "Information plus" featured 8 hours of in-person coaching with trained peers. This enhanced treatment supported students in experimenting with varied techniques for personalizing and incorporating the broad learning strategies into their study routines and emphasized their value for all courses. Students in the information plus group scored higher on the Calculus 1 final exam and earned higher semester GPAs excluding Calculus. The largest impact of the intervention was observed among students who comprised the middle third of the high school GPA. These results come from the first semester of a planned, four-semester intervention sequence. We are analyzing other data from this mixed-method analysis and aspire to apply conclusions of this study to develop interventions that support faculty in helping students appreciate and adopt active learning strategies.