PEER PROJECT LEARNING METHODOLOGY AS A NEW CONCEPT OF TEACHING-LEARNING STYLE AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL IN ECUADOR

## PEER PROJECT LEARNING METHODOLOGY AS A NEW CONCEPT OF TEACHING-LEARNING STYLE AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL IN ECUADOR

Erick Lamilla 1 , Eduardo Montero 1 , Daniela Guzmán 1 , Jorge Roblero 1 , Arturo Pazmiño 1 , Esther Gutierrez 1 , Víctor Velasco 1 , Luis Pabón 1 , Alex Romero 1 and Luis Del Pozo 1

1 Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, Departamento de Física, Campus Gustavo Galindo km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P. O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador, ealamill@espol.edu.ec

Palavras-chave : PPL; active-learning; online-project

## Introduction

The PPL methodology "Peer Project Learning" is a student-centered active learning model that allows the teacher to change their traditional role as an information transmitter to the role of information technology-supported education process administrator. Implemented in 2015 by Florencio Pinela, the PPL methodology is a model of technological innovation that was born from the interactive teaching models Peer Instruction [1] and Flipping Classroom [2] adapted to the academic needs of higher education institutions in Ecuador [3] .

In the last 20 years, there has been an accelerated paradigm shift in the teaching of Science, which seeks to focus on the student [4] , and actively supported in the construction students' own knowledge [5] , [6] . From the use of student response systems (SRS) as a first approach in interactive classrooms [7] to the implementation of STEAM multidisciplinary education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) [8] , educational innovation methodologies have shown that enhancing students' creativity and developing their cognitive skills is more relevant in building knowledge than passive learning offered by a traditional class [9] . Based on this, in Latin American there is still a backwardness, without improvement, in the education system, due to a permanence of passive learning methodologies [10] .

With this background, Florencio Pinela, Principal Professor of the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Ecuador, led his efforts to implement an active learning methodology-based on project and peer instruction model proposed by Eric Mazur [11] , which has been widely explored at prestigious universities in the World Rankings [12] . This new methodology called "Peer Project Learning" (PPL) is a model of educational innovation adapted to the academic needs of Ecuadorian higher

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education system and has served as the basis for the adaptation of technologysupported educational models in Latin America.

The purpose of this work is to present the Peer Project Learning methodological structure and to socialize the results obtained in the implementation of this methodology in the last 5 years.

## Methodology

Figure 01: Diagram of the Peer Project Learning process implemented by Florencio Pinela, highlighting the theoretical and practical-experimental components (above). Instructional design diagram of the theoretical component separated into 6 stages (bottom left). Instructional design diagram of the practical-experimental component separated into 5 stages per project (bottom right).

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The Figure 01 shows the general structure of the PPL model proposed by Florencio Pinela, which is composed of two instructional components: a theoretical

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component and a practical-experimental component, linked to each other through a step-by-step feedback process.

The theoretical component of PPL consists of 6 stages (see Fig.01 left) which are developed by the student during each study unit:

Stage 1: Pre-reading. - The students read the corresponding unit of the text, which will allow them to form a mental structure about the content.

Stage 2: Reading test. -The teaching team evaluates the reading comprehension and initial conceptual perception of students in relation to concepts in the unit.

Stage 3: Interactive class. - The teaching team reviews the key concepts of the unit by developing exercises and viewing videos of physics' applications, so that students strengthen their mental structure on the concept explored in stage 1 and 2.

Stage 4: Tutorial. - A theoretical-practical guide is provided with conceptual questions that will allow to test the knowledge generated by students in stages 1 and 3 along with teamwork.

Stage 5: Troubleshooting. - Activity that is due with collaborative work and has as results individual and collective critical analysis in solving common problems of physics.

Stage 6.- Evaluation of the unit. - An assessment that quantifies the knowledge generated by students in the previous stages.

The practical - experimental component of PPL is carried out in a group way, developing in 5 stages per project (see Fig.01 right), distributed over the academic period:

Stage 1: Project planning. - A project is designed in which concepts learned in class are applied and at the same time could be a proposal to solve a social problem in the country.

Stage 2: Prototype design. - The scope, limitations, restrictions, and minimum expected results of the project, associated with the objectives of the class, are defined.

Stage 3: Socialization of the project. - The project is explained to students.

Stage 4: Project monitoring. - Students are guided in the implementation of the project according to the physical concepts learned in the theoretical component of the PPL methodology.

Stage 5: Project verification and evaluation. - The teaching team checks if parameters established in stage 2 were implemented correctly.

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## Results

Figure 02 shows the learning gain results using two study groups, a first group in which passive learning is used through the traditional method and a second group in which the PPL methodology is used. In both groups a pre-test and post-test test was applied, and its gain was measured through the Hake formula [cite]. The results of this comparison are shown in Figure 02(a) in which we can see a gain of 0.4 for the PPL methodology and a gain of 0.1 for the traditional methodology [13] . The PPL methodology has also served to explore and improve some multiple intelligences in students as shown in Figure 02(b) highlighting three of the 8 multiple intelligences.

Figure 02: (a) Bivariate Histogram of Hake gain for PPL methodology vs. passive methodology. (b) Radar diagram showing students satisfaction results in relation to multiintelligence exploration using PPL methodology.

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## Conclusions

The PPL methodology is a new concept of active learning methodology adapted to the academic needs of higher education institutions in Ecuador and that can be used as a technology-supported educational model in Latin America. The interactive PPL model combines the classic features of a flipped classroom with STEAM multidisciplinary process for knowledge building. The model has shown a significant gain in students' academic performance compared to passive

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methodologies. The implementation of the PPL model allows to improve certain multiple intelligences and strengthen the learning styles of students.

## References

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- [9] Y. Jiugen, X. Ruonan e Z. &amp; Wenting, 'Essence of flipped classroom teaching model and influence on traditional teaching.,' em IEEE Workshop on Electronics, Computer and Applications , 2014.
- [10] J. J. Brunner e F. G. Contreras, 'Dinámicas de transformación en la educación superior latinoamericana: Desafíos para la gobernanza.,' Opción: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, nº 80, pp. 12-35, 2016.
- [11] A. P. Fagen, C. H. Crouch e E. Mazur, 'Peer instruction: Results from a range of classrooms.,' The physics teacher, vol. 4, nº 40, pp. 206-209, 2002.
- [12] N. Lasry, E. Mazur e J. Watkins, 'Peer instruction: From Harvard to the two-year college,' American journal of Physics, vol. 76, nº 11, pp. 10661069, 2008.

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- [13] A. R. M., l modelo de aprendizaje activo en la materia Física B como estrategia para mejorar el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de ingenierías de la ESPOL. Un caso de estudio, Guayaquil: Universidad Casa Grande, 2017.

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