Student-to-Student Teaching Program Wins National Recognition

Hassan Jamil '01 likes what helping teach his fellow students has taught him.

A neuroscience major, Jamil served as a "team leader" last year in a Rochester-pioneered program that brings undergraduates together in small discussion groups and
problem-solving workshops to improve the way students learn organic chemistry, physics, biology, and other demanding courses.

"As a leader, you start with your previous knowledge of the subject, and then you get to hear what everybody else brings to the class," says Jamil of his experience with organic chemistry. "It makes you a better student, and it makes you a better communicator."

The peer-led teaching program, developed at Rochester and a handful of universities nationwide, received major recognition last year when the National Science Foundation awarded it a $2.3 million grant to spread the story of its success.

As part of the grant, about 45 faculty, educational specialists, and students from across the country attended a three-day seminar at the University in June to learn how to train peer leaders so that they can implement the program on their home campuses.

Jack Kampmeier, professor of chemistry, and Vicki Roth, assistant dean and director of the Office of Learning Assistance Services, have spearheaded the workshops at the University, where the idea is now used in several departments, including chemistry, physics, economics, and biology.

The demand has largely been student-driven, Kampmeier says.

"The evidence is overwhelming that students learn by doing. We're social animals, and the whole process of learning is socially mediated," he says. "We've found a structure that brings these principles to life."

Roth created this spring's two-credit class in which leaders learned about group dynamics and how to guide workshops.

"Command of the subject material is certainly part of being a workshop leader, but that's not enough," says Roth. "The leaders also must be able to understand how other people learn, and they need to care about other students' success."

One of the attendees was Melissa Glendening '99, who was an organic chemistry team leader while a student at Rochester.

Now pursuing a master's degree at the Indianapolis branch of Indiana University/Purdue University, Glendening jumped at the chance when faculty asked for volunteers to start a peer-led program there.

"I think the program is a fabulous way to learn," Glendening says. "From my experience, I know organic chemistry much better than any other course that I took at Rochester because as a team leader, I was more active and more participatory."

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