Williams, J. L., Miller, M. E., Avitabile, B. C., Burrow, D. L., Schmittou, A. N., Mann, M. K., & Hiatt, L. A. (2017). Teaching Students to Be Instrumental in Analysis: Peer-Led Team Learning in the Instrumental Laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education, 94(12), 1889–1895.
This example describes a peer-led team learning model developed to mitigate issues with traditional instrumental analysis courses and give students in-depth experiences operating and troubleshooting six common instruments. The authors are from the Department of Chemistry at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, USA. Electronic cigarette solutions were chosen for all lab work because of their current relevance and to let students focus on the instruments rather than chemical details. The class was divided into five groups of two (n=10). Each group became the “class expert” on their assigned instrument responsible for teaching their peers how to utilize their instrument for experimentation as well as writing an operation and procedure manual. Each student rotated through their peer’s instruments, learned to apply the knowledge they gained from one instrument to others, while they answered questions from peers. Oral quizzes were used to assess verbal reasoning skills. Although a small sample, results suggest peer-led team learning can be successful in developing troubleshooting and communication skills - foundational tools for chemists. In a post semester survey, students expressed confidence in solving problems on their own and they no longer felt afraid to try something that might not work.