PAL CHEM Facilitators

The Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) model is based on over three decades of national research on learning using something called Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL).

PAL sessions encourage students to learn cooperatively under the guidance of trained students (called PAL Facilitators, not tutors), who have been very successful in the same course they facilitate, and have been trained in group facilitation and pedagogy. Think of your PAL Facilitators as the “Game Masters” of an “Escape Room”. They are there to fully support you, keep you on track, and help you avoid pitfalls, but they will never confirm your answers and spoil the fun for you!

During each PAL session, students work with classmates in small groups on whiteboards to solve “Escape Rooms”  (i.e. worksheet problems) designed by their instructors. During the process, the Facilitator will ask guiding questions that support the student as they are creating their own knowledge base. Facilitators are not there to show a student how to do something – the course instructors are already doing that. Therefore, it is crucial that the students bring the “Clues” (i.e. lecture notes) to each PAL session, otherwise they may not be able to solve the questions.

This can sometimes frustrate students! Especially if a student just wants someone to show them how to do a problem so that they can memorize it for the exam. However, this approach rarely creates true understanding. Thus, students in a PAL session will find their question answered with a question, over and over again. This is not because Facilitators are trying to frustrate students, but because these leaders have seen the research on meaningful learning and know that the way to ensure true success is to have students do the hard work of carving out their own understanding.