Premium
The Effect of Focused Active Learning Strategies on Student Engagement with Respect to Socioeconomic Class
Author(s) -
Birk Tirzah,
Lee Valerie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.569.2
Subject(s) - student engagement , active learning (machine learning) , socioeconomic status , social class , class (philosophy) , psychology , perception , medical education , mathematics education , medicine , population , political science , statistics , mathematics , environmental health , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , law , computer science
Anatomy and Physiology are gateway courses for students to enter allied health professions. One of the primary ways that students originating from a low socioeconomic class are able to rise to the middle class is through entry into these allied health fields (Hlinka et al 2015). At the same time, those same students of low social and cultural capital are least likely to persist in higher education (Aragon 2000) (Wells et al 2011) (Wells 2008) (Smith et al 2015). The objective of this study was to determine if students of low social and cultural capital will report a higher sense of engagement, satisfaction, perception of group work, and retention of knowledge in introductory Anatomy and Physiology as well as grit, social‐belonging, perceptions of the school's culture and peer‐interactions compared to those of high social and cultural capital when focused active learning is increased. Data were collected by pre and post class surveys of students in a second semester introductory Anatomy and Physiology course using focused active learning exercises in lecture. Control surveys were sent to students in the same course in previous semesters with no active learning exercises during lecture. Pilot study data (n=14) revealed student preference for active learning over traditional lecture and general satisfaction and engagement in the active learning activities. Additionally, lower achieving students performed slightly better on active learning‐specific exam questions compared to higher achieving students (p>0.05). Preliminary data suggest that students of low social and cultural capital have increased perceptions of learning, and an increased sense of belonging due to increased peer and faculty interactions and practical applications inherent to active learning.