Learning communities, at its core, promote peer-to-peer and student-faculty interaction and provide students with a number of opportunities to build a strong support system. Unlike the majority of studies about learning communities, the present study is unique in that it examines whether a learning community can be particularly beneficial within a specific discipline-the biological sciences-and therefore has the potential to contribute to the small but growing body of work on learning communities in STEM education. A number of studies have found a positive correlation between participation in a learning community and traditional academic markers of success, also finding positive outcomes for students most at risk for leaving college, such as students underprepared for college-level coursework. Learning communities are intentionally designed to increase opportunities for students to interact with peers, faculty, and the curriculum, which allows for the construction of a strong support system. In the same vein are learning community programs, the focus of the present study. Examples of interventions utilizing this model include summer bridge programs, structured independent research experiences, and STEM learning centers. Īnother tactic used to improve STEM outcomes has been to alter the college student experience at the program or institution-wide level. Interventions of this nature have been developed in response to nationwide concern regarding the low persistence of STEM undergraduates in their academic majors-an issue that disproportionately impacts underrepresented minority (URM) students, low-income students, and first-generation college-going students. Examples of interventions include the incorporation of active learning strategies, the structuring of at-home activities that help students prepare for class, and values-affirmation writing exercises. In light of these findings, we discuss the potential of discipline-specific learning community programs to improve academic outcomes for students most at risk of leaving STEM majors, such as students underprepared for college level coursework.Ī considerable number of studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education research fields have focused on improving outcomes for undergraduate students using two intervention types: interventions that impact content delivery both inside and outside the classroom and those that address social-psychological aspects of the student experience. And, among the three race-oriented groups, this impact is most pronounced for under-represented students. Lastly, we find that the EASE program is positively correlated with students’ intention to stay in the biological sciences major. For example, whereas surveyed male students seemed to benefit academically from participating in a learning community, female students reported a greater sense of belonging in regard to the biological sciences major and reported higher values for behavioral indicators of academic integration. Further, these outcomes are more pronounced for particular subgroup populations. We find that enrollment in EASE is correlated with higher STEM course grades an increase of 0.25 (on a 0–4 point scale) in cumulative first-year GPA and gains in non-academic outcomes, such as measures of sense of belonging and academic integration. Incoming freshmen are assigned to EASE based on their SAT (or ACT equivalent) Math score, a metric demonstrated to be a key predictor of student success in the program. In this study, we examine the impact of a learning community intervention for first-year biological sciences majors, the Enhanced Academic Success Experience (EASE) program. Learning communities provide students with opportunities to build a strong support system in college and are generally associated with increased student engagement and integration with campus systems and cultures. One promising intervention type that has been proposed as a multifaceted way to address both cognitive and social-psychological aspects of the learning process is the learning community. As part of this effort, recent research has emphasized the need for focus on not only improving the delivery of course content, but also addressing the social-psychological needs of students. During the past few decades, there has been a nationwide push to improve performance and persistence outcomes for STEM undergraduates.
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