The use of small groups in a large lecture microbiology course

In the fall of 1997, we started using small groups in our large (100-200 st udents) junior level introductory microbiology course. Students form five-p erson groups early in the semester, and work on projects within these group s throughout the semester. These projects involve exploration of concepts s uch as metabolism, protein synthesis, and viral reproduction strategies and the submission of a poster describing a disease of their choice at the end of the semester. We have refined the use of the small groups during the la st three semesters, and student acceptance and performance have improved st eadily. In the fall semester of 1998, a comprehensive assessment of the eff ectiveness of these group projects was performed. Students were chosen at r andom to participate in student consultation groups to discuss group projec ts. Furthermore, we utilized a master teacher-in-residence from the Rocky M ountain Teachers Education Collaborative (RMTEC). This teacher-in-residence attended our classes, spoke with students, helped with student consultatio n groups, and provided observations of student responses to group work acti vities. RMTEC also provided funds to hire a research assistant to conduct s tudent consultation groups, analyze student evaluations of our course, and compare evaluations from before and after the implementation of group exami nations. Additionally, the Center for Teaching and Learning at Colorado Sta te University assisted with mid-semester evaluations in each subsequent sem ester. The results of our analysis show that small groups in large lectures can be an effective learning tool provided students are given well-designe d activities with clearly defined, obtainable goals and clearly articulated guidelines, Our experience also shows that the manner in which the instruc tor presents the process to students affects students' willingness to parti cipate in the process. It must be clearly articulated to students why he ha s incorporated active learning strategies into the course, what he hopes st udents will gain from the experience, and how he expects students to partic ipate in these activities. We recognize the increase in workload on ourselv es as instructors, but the benefits seem worth the additional time and effo rt. This paper describes the group process that we use and provides an eval uation of the effort.