Peer Teaching in Engineering: An In-Depth Study

In this paper, we present an in-depth study on incorporating peer teaching in graduate level engineering courses. Peer teaching is a form of active learning. It also incorporates elements of flipped classrooms. Unlike common practices of peer teaching, which usually focuses on tutoring, mentoring, and problem solving, students in our class were required to form teams and each team was required to give a mini-lecture on a pre-approved topic within the scope of the course. This design of peer teaching has two purposes. First, from the students’ perspective, they get to experience what it takes to prepare and teach a mini-lecture on a topic that is relevant to the course. Second, from the instructor’s perspective, the mini-lectures given by student teams could complement the lectures prepared and given by the instructor. The assessment method is a survey consisting of a Teacher Perception Scale (TPS) (i.e., eight questions regarding a student’s perception serving as a peer teacher), a Learner Perception Scale (LPS) (i.e., eight questions regarding a students’ perception as a peer learner), and two open-ended questions. Basic analysis of the survey results confirmed that the findings of our study are consistent with those of previous studies on peer teaching. Furthermore, we report an in-depth analysis of the impact of the peer teaching module that is guided by the following research questions: (1) To what extent do students’ perceptions of peer teaching as teachers align with their perceptions as learners? (2) How does participating in peer teaching influence students’ engagement, confidence, and communication skills? (3) Are there distinct clusters of students based on their attitudes toward peer teaching? What characterizes each group? (4) How is perceived effectiveness shaped by the structure and preparedness of peer-teaching activities? (5) What suggestions do students offer to improve peer teaching experiences? Both TPS and LPS demonstrate excellent reliability (αTPS = 0.946, αLPS = 0.886), and a strong TPS–LPS alignment (Spearman ρ ≈ 0.81, Pearson r ≈ 0.83). Clustering yields two coherent segments (teamwork-focused and preparedness-focused; silhouette ≈ 0.45). Open-ended recommendations emphasize interactive activities, clear objectives and rubrics, targeted training for peer teachers, topic uniqueness, pacing, and light-touch faculty oversight. Findings are interpreted within self-determination theory, social cognitive theory, and constructive alignment. Implications for instructional design and future research are also outlined.