AC 2008-521: EFFECTS OF ACTIVE LEARNING ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND RETENTION

During a five-year period from 2002 through 2006, parallel sections of the introductory sophomore chemical engineering course (“Chemical Process Principles”) were taught by different instructors in the same or adjacent time slots, so that both sections could be given the same midterm examinations. It usually happened that one section was taught in a traditional lecture-based format and the other was taught using extensive active learning, with group activities in every class session. The mode of instruction made relatively little difference to students with high first-year grade-point averages, but low-GPA students in the active classes consistently outperformed traditionally-taught low-GPA students on common exams and homework assignments and were also more likely to drop out of chemical engineering after the course. This paper summarizes the results and discusses their implications for instruction in engineering gateway courses.