Workshop Chemistry Program

Workshops (or Peer-led Team Learning in the science literature) are experiences in active learning: students actively solve problems to reveal where the difficult or obscure steps might be, and then cooperatively progress through the learning exercise. It has been demonstrated in many studies on learning that the outcome far exceed the independent learner. Why? Students are expected to communicate with each other which requires a higher level of comprehension than self-learning. Students quiz each other which places demands on the better students to re-interpret ideas and concepts in alternative and unanticipated ways, thus improving their own understanding. So good students get better, and weak students get stronger. At the same time, students learn to be part of a team, an oft-heard expectation from potential employers.