Collaborative Study Strategizing Improves Student Performance and Sense of Belonging in an Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology Course

Anatomy and Physiology one and two (A&P) at UW- La Crosse are upper-division gateway courses with lower pass and higher withdrawal rates. We tested the hypothesis that these rates were in part due to disparities in equity, study skill awareness, and belongingness uncertainty. We evaluated student sense of belonging at the start and end of the course across 8 lecture sections (n = 600 students). Study sections implemented peer driven collaborative study skill activities. Including study tool sharing, peer mentoring, and group exam wrappers. Feedback on individual activities was overall positive (59 - 91.8%). Measures included direct, formative and summative assessments, retention data, and qualitative student open response scoring. Student performance on standardized exams, lab activities and the course overall improved significantly in the study sections relative to controls (P < 0.05). Student withdrawal rate dropped from 9% to 1.3% in the study sections and student belongingness uncertainty dropped relative to all control sections (P < 0.05). Results from several of these measures indicated that peer supported study skill capacity building can improve undergraduate A&P student performance, course retention rates and student sense of belonging at an institution. These strategies and measures may be translated into other bottleneck courses in an effort to mitigate inequities in student success. Study was supported by the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars program and the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.