LMC’S SPARTAN: An Adapted Peer-Led Team Learning Program in a Malaysian Preuniversity Chemistry Course

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Abstract Introductory chemistry courses in Malaysia’s one-year preuniversity program leave limited class time for guided problem solving, and many students struggle with foundational topics. This Activity describes LMC’S SPARTAN, a large-scale adapted peer-led team learning (PLTL)-based academic support program implemented in a Malaysian preuniversity chemistry course. The program has been implemented every semester since Semester 1 of the 2024/2025 academic session; this Activity reports the Semester 1 2024/2025 rollout as an illustrative case. Using a Chemistry Diagnostic Test, 1,018 science students were grouped into 288 same-cohort peer leaders (“Titans”) and 730 mentees (“Olympians”) across 144 Spartan teams. A six-phase rollout combined diagnostic placement, data-driven team formation, online leadership profiling, targeted peer-leader training, three multiweek peer-led workshop cycles on core general chemistry topics, and culminating program-level assessment and recognition activities coordinated through Google Workspace and Telegram. In a one-group pre–post program evaluation, adapted Attitudes Toward Group Work and Attitudes Toward Chemistry instruments were administered before the peer-led workshop cycles and at program completion. Students reported significant increases in attitudes toward group work, from 3.990 to 4.365, t(1017) = 15.086, p < 0.001, dz = 0.473, and attitudes toward chemistry, from 3.801 to 4.175, t(1017) = 14.967, p < 0.001, dz = 0.469. Improvements in the two outcomes were positively associated (r = 0.564, p < 0.001). Role-disaggregated analyses indicated positive affective gains for both Titans and Olympians, while supportive dimension-level findings suggested that students perceived chemistry as more manageable. The findings demonstrate that an adapted PLTL-based structure can be implemented at scale in this setting and was associated with more positive affective responses toward collaborative learning and chemistry.

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