TABLE 4.

Representative quotes for the Environment theme

Category	Representative subcategory	Corresponding representative quote
Leader Attitude	Show positivity	“Showing your students that succeeding in Gen Chem is achievable with hard work will encourage them to keep trying, even if initially everything does not come naturally to them.” (427, 2013, Female)
Social Environment	Develop community	“Another thing you want to avoid is always putting the same two or three people together. The PLTL program is about giving first-semester freshmen an opportunity to be part of a community. The best way to encourage this is to mix the groups up, so that everyone is forced to talk to everyone else. Feeling comfortable with ten people rather than just one or two will really help freshmen feel part of the Wash U community, while improving the group’s cohesiveness.” (501, 2015, Female)
	Communicate with students	“I told the students about how I studied for the course and how I struggled initially. This makes you more relatable to the students and in the end will cause there to be a stronger peer leader–mentee relationship. When you talk about the PLTL philosophy, therefore, they will understand the importance of each method (small group, pairs, round robin, and scribe) and will implement without any argument.” (456, 2014, Male)
	Know your students	“Model the mindset—It can be very valuable to give personal experience about your own struggles in classes, especially if you had to consciously improve and change your approach to the class throughout the semester. This can make the concept of a growth mindset much more relatable for students!” (504, 2015, Male)
Physical Environment	Arrange space	“During sessions, depending on the size of your room, you can make good use of the space. One [peer] leader I know would have her pairs or small groups work at different tables that she arranged before the start of her session which prevented groups from overhearing and being distracted by the work of other groups.” (500, 2015, Female)
Group Expectations	Introduce philosophy	“As the PLTL philosophy is also introduced on the first day, this is a good time to have your group make connections between the structured approaches they will be using for the rest of the semester with the PLTL philosophy as a whole, and reinforce the expectation that they will participate, contribute, and cooperate to the group’s learning as a whole.” (473, 2014, Female)
	Establish ground rules	“Establish some ground rules that articulate what you are there for (e.g., you are a facilitator, not a walking book of answers) and what is expected of everyone in terms of participation and general respectfulness.” (428, 2013, Female)