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Participation in supplemental instruction improves students’ academic performance in a physiology course (531.20)

Student perception of the difficulty of AnS 214, Domestic Animal Physiology, is supported by comparing mean grade in AnS 214 (2.23/4.0) to that of all 100 and 200 level classes at Iowa State University (ISU; 2.86/4.0). To address student need for academic support, Supplemental Instruction (SI) has been offered for this course since the spring 2009 semester. SI consists of peer‐assisted group study sessions, facilitated by a peer student (the SI Leader) who successfully completed the course. The Leader attends classes with students and plans SI session content based on recent coursework, emphasizing what to learn and how to learn. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the extent to which student participation in SI improved academic performance in AnS 214. SI participants earned an average grade of 2.73 ± 1.05 while non‐participants earned an average grade of 2.23 ± 1.23 (p<0.05). Of the subgroup of students that were deemed regular participants (>9 sessions) the average grade improved more substantially to 3.07 ± 0.86 (p<0.05 v non‐participants; p<0.05 v all participants). When each of the four exams given throughout the semester were considered, SI participation improved exam performance by 11‐19% for all exams compared to non‐participants (p<0.05 for all exams). Regular attendance improved exam performance by 17‐28% compared to non‐participants (p<0.05 for all exams) and was also significantly greater than participants attending 1‐9 sessions (p<0.05 for 1‐9 participants). These data indicate that participation in SI improved student academic performance, however, regular participation led to further benefits.