Building a Problem-Solving Community of Scholars: Peer-Facilitators’ Talk Moves
AIChE Annual Meeting
2023
2023 AIChE Annual Meeting
Annual Student Conference: Competitions & Events
Undergraduate Student Poster Session: Education & General Papers
Monday, November 6, 2023 - 10:00am to 12:30pm
Despite efforts (e.g., interventions and significant financial investments) to improve diversity,
degree completion, and retention in engineering, many institutions continue to struggle to realize
these goals. This qualitative study examined one student success intervention at a Hispanic
Serving Institution (HSI) that seeks to improve retention rates and GPAs for rising sophomore
chemical engineering students through workshops and a preview of gateway sophomore-level
courses through a problem-solving workshop led by upper-level students who previously earned
an A or B in the course. Our study aimed to understand the discourse in these sessions and its
impact on student success. We used observations and video recordings of the class sessions to
analyze the discourse. We observed 5 sessions during the five-week intervention, which
included 4 video recorded sessions. These sessions consisted of peer facilitators and students
working together to solve a problem as a large group. We analyzed the videos using a
deductive approach. We focused on the specific words used by noting quotes and memoing the
context in which the quote was said. For the analysis, we built on the framework by Grinath &
Southerland (2019) and Miel et al. (2023) using the three broad categories of discourse moves:
conservative, ambitious, and inclusive. We considered conservative to be an instance where a
statement was meant to elicit an anticipated answer or deliver information, ambitious when a
comment is meant to encourage reasoning, and inclusive when a statement is used to include
all voices in the classroom. Throughout the program, peer facilitators primarily used
conservative talk moves, followed by ambitious and inclusive moves at almost equal amounts.
Although conservative talk moves occurred more frequently, as seen in other studies, our
findings illustrate a greater emphasis on inclusive and ambitious moves. To improve outcomes
for engineering students, it is essential to understand how they learn and what discourse
patterns work best to succeed. Learning from how peer facilitators interact with students as
opposed to typical educators could prove valuable in engineering education, improving student
outcomes and future intervention design.
degree completion, and retention in engineering, many institutions continue to struggle to realize
these goals. This qualitative study examined one student success intervention at a Hispanic
Serving Institution (HSI) that seeks to improve retention rates and GPAs for rising sophomore
chemical engineering students through workshops and a preview of gateway sophomore-level
courses through a problem-solving workshop led by upper-level students who previously earned
an A or B in the course. Our study aimed to understand the discourse in these sessions and its
impact on student success. We used observations and video recordings of the class sessions to
analyze the discourse. We observed 5 sessions during the five-week intervention, which
included 4 video recorded sessions. These sessions consisted of peer facilitators and students
working together to solve a problem as a large group. We analyzed the videos using a
deductive approach. We focused on the specific words used by noting quotes and memoing the
context in which the quote was said. For the analysis, we built on the framework by Grinath &
Southerland (2019) and Miel et al. (2023) using the three broad categories of discourse moves:
conservative, ambitious, and inclusive. We considered conservative to be an instance where a
statement was meant to elicit an anticipated answer or deliver information, ambitious when a
comment is meant to encourage reasoning, and inclusive when a statement is used to include
all voices in the classroom. Throughout the program, peer facilitators primarily used
conservative talk moves, followed by ambitious and inclusive moves at almost equal amounts.
Although conservative talk moves occurred more frequently, as seen in other studies, our
findings illustrate a greater emphasis on inclusive and ambitious moves. To improve outcomes
for engineering students, it is essential to understand how they learn and what discourse
patterns work best to succeed. Learning from how peer facilitators interact with students as
opposed to typical educators could prove valuable in engineering education, improving student
outcomes and future intervention design.