The experience of peer instruction in a soil mechanics class at the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Brazil

This paper aims to present the results of applying a variation of Peer Instruction - PI in a Soil Mechanics undergraduate course at the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, in Ilhéus, Brazil. The idea of applying PI in this course came as a response to the high dropout and retention rates perceived by the teacher in previous soil mechanics classes. The class of 31 students was divided into two groups, one of which met weekly to discuss the content of the following classes and another one that just relied on traditional learning methods. In the classroom, both groups answered a set of conceptual questions, applied after an initial presentation of the content of the scheduled class, and the teacher acted based on the students' answers as recommended by PI. The results show that the students who studied previously exhibited a better conceptual understanding of the topics of the course and, even in quantitative exams, obtained better grades than those students who just relied on traditional learning methods. Besides, it was found that the students in PI had lower absence and dropout rates. These results show that PI can be effective in Soil Mechanics classes both by increasing student involvement in class and by improving students’ conceptual understanding related to the content of the course, what can be seen in lower dropout rates and higher grades.