Active Learning Classrooms

Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are designed to support collaborative learning in large class sections that are often taught with a lecture format. Studies on ALCs indicate that they have positive influences on student learning, but the same studies fail to look at learning differences between subgroups of students. In the current study, students enrolled in an introductory STEM course (N = 273) instructed in ALCs completed learning inventories and questionnaires designed to measure the influence of social context. Results showed a lack of learning differences within the classroom environment, a positive relationship between learning gains and perceptions of the student-student interactions, and differences in the perception of the social context unique to ALCs based on gender and ethnic and racial diversity.