Effects of Teaching Strategies on Student Success, Persistence, and Perceptions of Course Evaluations

This study explored whether gender and active learning and student-centered pedagogies such as project-based and peer-led in introductory science "gatekeeper" major courses; BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 had an impact on student success rates, student perceptions, and student persistence in STEM fields at a community college in South Texas while controlling for the BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 pretest, respectively, was analyzed through the utilization of a 2-way ANCOVA. The effects of the three teaching strategies on student perceptions was measured by the student Course Evaluation instrument in BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 through a MANOVA statistical method. The relationship between the three teaching strategies and student persistence in pursuing a STEM major for BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 students was analyzed through a binary logistic regression method. Throughout the BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 sections, there were no significant (1) interaction between gender and teaching strategy, (2) differences among the three teaching strategies, and (3) difference between student genders on the variable of student success as measured by the BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 posttest while controlling for the BIOL 1306 and CHEM 1311 pretest, respectively. There were no significance differences seen among the three teaching strategies on student perceptions.