Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that underrepresented students in active-learning classrooms experience narrower achievement gaps than underrepresented students in traditional lecturing classrooms, averaged across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and courses. We conducted a comprehensive search for both published and unpublished studies that compared the performance of underrepresented students to their overrepresented classmates in active-learning and traditional-lecturing treatments. This search resulted in data on student examination scores from 15 studies (9,238 total students) and data on student failure rates from 26 studies (44,606 total students). Bayesian regression analyses showed that on average, active learning reduced achievement gaps in examination scores by 33% and narrowed gaps in passing rates by 45%. The reported proportion of time that students spend on in-class activities was important, as only classes that implemented high-intensity active learning narrowed achievement gaps. Sensitivity analyses showed that the conclusions are robust to sampling bias and other issues. To explain the extensive variation in efficacy observed among studies, we propose the heads-and-hearts hypothesis, which holds that meaningful reductions in achievement gaps only occur when course designs combine deliberate practice with inclusive teaching. Our results support calls to replace traditional lecturing with evidence-based, active-learning course designs across the STEM disciplines and suggest that innovations in instructional strategies can increase equity in higher education.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 6476-6483 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 117 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 9 Mar 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 24 Mar 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Ian Breckheimer, Ailene Ettinger, and Roddy Theobald for statistical advice and Darrin Howell for help with hand-searching journals. We are deeply indebted to the community of researchers who supplied the raw data on student demographics and outcomes that made this study possible. Financial support was provided by the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences.
Published by PNAS. Data deposition: The data reported in this paper have been deposited in GitHub, https://github.com/ejtheobald/Gaps_Metaanalysis Financial support was provided by the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences.
Keywords
- Achievement gaps
- Active learning
- Heads-and-hearts hypothesis
- Individual-participant data metaanalysis
- Underrepresented minorities