SynthesisProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math.
Synthesis in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 277 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
277 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Investigating Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Classroom Inclusion-Emergence of the Student Perceptions of Instructor Practices-Inclusion/Exclusion (SPIP-I/E) Framework.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Student Perceptions of Obstacles in Science Careers are Not Altered by Scientist Stories of Challenges.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Environmental load in biology classrooms: attention, technology, and cognitive access in science education.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Investigating virtual versus hands-on interventions in promoting increased performance, perceived knowledge, and confidence in a large general microbiology course.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Assessment, feedback, and grading practices and philosophies of introductory biology instructors.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Assessing the Evolving the Culture of Biology program through the lens of the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform model.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of a BOPPPS-based peer instruction approach in undergraduate physiology: a quasi-experimental study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Increasing learning, confidence, and retention in the immunology classroom with LEGO.ImmunoHorizons · 2026Article
- Implementation of SCALE-UP in First-Year Chemistry at an HBCU.Journal of higher education theory and practice · 2026Article
- Patterns of change in evidence-based practice competence following a team-based learning intervention: a quasi-experimental study.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Equitable Group Work in Undergraduate Biology Courses: Leveraging a Complex Instruction Framework to Identify Pedagogical Strategies.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Instructor Talk and Student Belonging in Introductory Biology: Not all Talk Matters and Relationships Vary by Student Identity.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Pedagogical Knowledge Among Early-Career Undergraduate Instructors: Qualitative Variation, Longitudinal Development, and Influences on Teaching.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Studying with Friends in Introductory Biology Is Associated with Low Impact Study Strategies and No Improvement of Exam Scores.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Establishing and Evaluating an Interdisciplinary Summer Undergraduate Research Training Program in Maternal, Child, and Family Health.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Maximizing the Value of Learning Assistants for Students' Belonging, Mattering, and Confidence in Gateway STEM Courses.CBE life sciences education · 2026Article
- Educational policies can strengthen climate coalitions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- A Special Issue Introduction: Educational Applications of Cognitive Psychology.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) designed for modern genetics and biodiversity courses using a classroom benchtop sequencer.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2026Article
217 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
33 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that underrepresented students in active-learning classrooms experience narrower achievement gaps than underrepresented students in traditional lecturing classrooms, averaged across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and courses. We conducted a comprehensive search for both published and unpublished studies that compared the performance of underrepresented students to their overrepresented classmates in active-learning and traditional-lecturing treatments. This search resulted in data on student examination scores from 15 studies (9,238 total students) and data on student failure rates from 26 studies (44,606 total students). Bayesian regression analyses showed that on average, active learning reduced achievement gaps in examination scores by 33% and narrowed gaps in passing rates by 45%. The reported proportion of time that students spend on in-class activities was important, as only classes that implemented high-intensity active learning narrowed achievement gaps. Sensitivity analyses showed that the conclusions are robust to sampling bias and other issues. To explain the extensive variation in efficacy observed among studies, we propose the heads-and-hearts hypothesis, which holds that meaningful reductions in achievement gaps only occur when course designs combine deliberate practice with inclusive teaching. Our results support calls to replace traditional lecturing with evidence-based, active-learning course designs across the STEM disciplines and suggest that innovations in instructional strategies can increase equity in higher education.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.