Peer-led Supplemental Instruction in an NSF STEP project: The EEES experience

Abstract

In recent years there has been a decline in the number of STEM students nationwide. Specifically, there is a high loss rate of early engineering students in the first half of their degree programs. The early "leavers" typically fall into two categories (i) those that face academic probation and (ii) those that perceive the education environment of early engineering as hostile and not engaging1, 2, 3. Undergraduate engineering enrollment has declined substantially over the last decade in the College of Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU). The downturn can be attributed partly to the rapid decline of the American automobile and manufacturing industry, a traditional mainstay for the Michigan economy. In 2008, a five-year NSF STEP grant (STEM Talent Expansion Program) was awarded to support a partnership between the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Science at Michigan State University and Lansing Community College (LCC). LCC is an urban community college with an enrollment of approximately 30,000 students located in close proximity to MSU. The two institutions have a strong history of collaboration. The project is titled Engaging Early Engineering Students (EEES). A primary goal of EEES is to increase matriculation-tograduation retention rate in the MSU College of Engineering by ten percentage points. EEES project functions through the synergistic operation of four components designed to maximize student engagement with both the college and the learning process. The components are (i) Connector faculty; (ii) Supplemental Instruction; (iii) Course cross linkages; and (iv) Early intervention. The primary objective of this paper is to describe the implementation and outcomes associated with the first two and a half years of the Supplemental Instruction segment of the EEES project. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is an internationally recognized peer-tutoring program that integrates course content with active student learning in the form of peer facilitated study sessions. This approach to peer to peer learning has shown that participating students make greater gains than those achieved by classmates competing with each other or studying alone4 Group learning has demonstrated benefits essential to creating a more welcoming educational environment, including helping to integrate students into academic life, teaching effective collaboration methods, and reducing prejudice 4. Additionally, peer tutoring has been shown to positively affect those students leading the study sessions4. In this report we describe: (i) a description of SI in the MSU College of Engineering and its implementation process; (ii) SI program collaborations; (iii) supporting research on peer tutoring and collaborative learning; (iv) program outcomes; and (v) future opportunities. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.