ERIC Number: EJ1145851
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jul
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1469-7874
EISSN: N/A
Likes Attract: Students Self-Sort in a Classroom by Gender, Demography, and Academic Characteristics
Freeman, Scott; Theobald, Roddy; Crowe, Alison J.; Wenderoth, Mary Pat
Active Learning in Higher Education, v18 n2 p115-126 Jul 2017
Although a growing literature has documented the effectiveness of informal group work during class sessions, virtually no data exist on which students are collaborating. As a result, instructors rarely know whether students are self-sorting in ways that maximize learning. This article explores which undergraduate students worked together on each of five exercises scheduled throughout the term, in a large-enrollment course for majors that emphasized intensive peer interaction. Pairwise logistic regression models were used to assess the likelihood that students collaborated based on shared demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and academic performance. In almost all cases, students self-sorted by ethnicity and gender. In addition, students who were predicted to do well in the course, based on their academic history, worked together initially; students who actually did well in the course, based on their final grade, were working together at the end; and students who were predicted to struggle in the course began collaborating late in the term.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Cooperative Learning, Group Dynamics, Heterogeneous Grouping, Homogeneous Grouping, Introductory Courses, Interpersonal Competence, Interaction, Regression (Statistics), Demography, Student Characteristics, Socioeconomic Status, Academic Achievement, Ethnicity, Sex, Predictor Variables, Grades (Scholastic), Social Networks, Outcomes of Education, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: DUE0942215