Peer-Led Team Learning

Pratibha Varma-Nelson is Professor of Chemistry and founding Executive Director of the STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) at Indiana University, Indianapolis (IUI). Dr. Varma-Nelson is known for her contributions to the development, evaluation, and dissemination of the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) model. Her research group at IUI also worked on the development, evaluation, and dissemination of cyber-PLTL (cPLTL). This work informs how students learn chemistry in online environments as well as in face-to-face environments. In addition, she was a founding Co-PI of the NSF funded Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education, (CASPiE). Varma-Nelson was a co-recipient of the James Flack Norris Award (2008), along with David Gosser and their late colleague Jack A. Kampmeier; she is also the recipient of the Stanley C. Israel regional award from the ACS (2011), George C. Pimentel Award (2018), Indiana University Bicentennial Medal, among others. In 2017 she was selected as the ACS Fellow. Her Ph.D. is from University of Illinois at Chicago and her B.Sc. from Pune University, India.

 

Why I Chose to Work on PLTL

There are two reasons: PLTL encourages students to work with other students in groups every week. These students learn content through teaching others as well as the importance of coming prepared to the workshop sessions. And, students who serve as peer leaders develop skills transferable to the workplace such as leadership, collaboration/teamwork, self-confidence, coping with challenges and problem solving (see, for example: Chase, A., Rao, A. S., Lakmala, P. & Varman-Nelson, P. (2020). Beyond content knowledge: transferable skills connected to experience as a peer-leader in a PLTL program and long-term impacts. International Journal of STEM Education, 7, 29.  https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020-00228-1)