POGILPROCESS-ORIENTED GUIDED

INQUIRY LEARNING

The approach encourages process-oriented skills such as problem solving, critical and analytical thinking, and oral and written communication and employs guided-inquiry learning.

How it started

Returning to teaching after 30 years in industry and nothing had changed.

Going to professional development and all I heard was how I needed to teach to different learning styles

Responsibility for learning resided in the teacher rather than the student

Reflections

College is preparation for the workplace and for life

Generally people have to take responsibility for their learning

No supervisor ever cared about my learning style.

Employers value skills such as teamwork, communication and problem solving

Still Looking

An NSF Workshop proposed a variety of innovations for the science teacher

Constraints of size and funding eliminated most innovations other than POGIL

NSF offered several advanced workshops about POGIL

We both attended a workshop in Texas

Reinventing the Wheel

Thirty years of workshops and you always come away with something useful

Nothing ever really changes Conversation on an airplane OK, I’m in

OBJECTIVES OF POGIL

•Develop process skills in the area of learning, thinking and problem solving•Develop teamwork, communication, management and assessment•Engage students in learning and thinking•Increase student-student and student-instructor interaction•Improve attitudes towards science

Premises of POGIL

•Students are actively involved in learning•Students learn by constructing knowledge•Students can learn from each other•Students use process skills to acquire and apply knowledge, succeed in the work place

HOW DOES POGIL WORK?

A team of students is formed consisting of a manager, recorder, spokesperson and strategic analyst.

A short introductory lecture may be given on the material to be covered

The students are given a POGIL work sheet to complete as a team

The instructor facilitates instruction in each group assisting the learning process interacting with students in small group format.

HOW ARE THE WORKSHEETS ORGANIZED?

The Learning Process Component of the activity

Identify a need to learn Answer the why question. Learning objectives and success criteria are defined

Acquire information Reading assignment is provided. New concepts, perquisites and vocabulary words listed

Develop understanding construct knowledge

Students explore model or example in response to critical thinking skills

Practice applying knowledge

Skill exercise involve straight forward application of the knowledge

Apply knowledge in new contexts

Problems and extended problems require synthesis and transference concepts

Role of the Instructor

Prepare and or select the POGIL worksheet Give up the front of the room. Facilitate rather than instruct Small group instruction Intervention

New Applications

In Context worksheets, Professor John Goodwin at Coastal Carolina College is developing worksheets that relate chemistry to the real world

POGIL labs use many of the POGIL techniques applied to lab experiments

DATA POGIL’s effectiveness has been studied

at small and large institutions some of the data appear below:

University of New Mexico WDF dropped from 50% to 13%

Franklin and Marshall WDF decreased by 50%

Our results

Retention in CHM151 with POGIL 90% without POGIL 63%

Continuation of CHM151 to CHM152 with POGIL 90% without POGIL 78%

Retention in CHM152 with POGIL 94% without POGIL 76%

Retention in SCI 090 with POGIL 90% without POGIL <50%

Non POGIL data is the average of three years. POGIL data is for one year

FAQ What do I do with the non-participating student? What do I do if they get the answers wrong? What do I do with a group that is moving too

fast? What do I do about material that isn’t covered

by POGIL exercises? What do I do if nobody is getting it? When do I give a mini lecture? What do I do if the Manager is absent?

Sources

For all POGIL information http://www.pogil.org/

In Context worksheets contact John Goodwin @ jgoodwin@COASTAL.EDU

For more information Google POGIL