CHARACTERISTICS OF POGIL MATERIALS

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POGIL Workshop Moravian CollegeBethlehem,
PAJanuary 15, 2005
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PROCESS-ORIENTED GUIDED INQUIRY LEARNING

• Rick Moog FM College
• Frank Creegan Washington College
• David Hanson Stony Brook U.
• Jim Spencer FM College
• Andrei Straumanis Coll. Of Charleston (2004)
• Diane Bunce The Catholic University
• Troy Wolfskill Stony Brook U.
• NSF CCLI DUE-0231120

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Thinking About Your Classroom

• Draw two lines on a blank piece of paper to
  divide it into quarters
• Think about a particular class that you are
  teaching or have taught recently
• Write Real Class and Ideal Class above the
  two columns

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Tasks

• In the upper two quadrants, provide verbs (5-8)
  that describe what a student does during a
  typical class period (first real, then ideal).
  Be as specific as possible. Do not use learn
  or synonyms of this word. 2 MINUTES
• In bottom two quadrants, provide verbs (5-8)
  that describe what the instructor does during a
  typical class period (first real, then ideal). Be
  as specific as possible. Do not use teach or
  synonyms of this word. 2 MINUTES
• For the top 5 verbs in each quadrant, indicate
  percentage of time spent in typical class period
  engaged in each verb. Percentages may add up to
  over 100. 2 MINUTES

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Discussion

• Individually identify barriers preventing your
  real class from being ideal. 1
  MINUTE
• Identify up to three significant common barriers
  within your group. 3 MINUTES

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A POGIL CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE
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Student Outcomes

• Individually, make a list of what your students
  might gain (other than content knowledge) from
  this type of learning environment. 1 MINUTE
• As a group, discuss your responses and combine
  them into a list of the 5 most significant items.
  3 MINUTES

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Process Oriented
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PROCESS-ORIENTED CLASSROOM

• A classroom environment in which students are
  actively engaged in improving key processes in
  order to improve their mastery of content and to
  develop higher order thinking skills

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Our Implementation

• Students work in small groups on specially
  designed activities intended to develop mastery
  of both course content and key process skills.

TARGETED PROCESSES
Critical Thinking Communication Management

• Information Processing
• Problem Solving
• Teamwork
• Assessment

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Guided Inquiry Learning
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Conventional Pedagogy

• Teaching is telling
• Knowledge is facts
• Learning is recall

D.K. Cohen in Contributing to Educational
Change, Philip W. Jackson, Ed. McCutchan
Berkeley, CA, 1989.
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Information Processing Model
A. H. Johnstone, J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74,
262. Gazzaniga et al. Cognitive Neuroscience,
1998.
Events Observations Instructions
Sensory Inputs Acoustic Visual
previous knowledge preferences biases misconceptio
ns likes dislikes
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Constructivist Model of Learning

• Learning is not the transfer of material from
  the head of the teacher to the head of the
  learner intact, but the reconstruction of
  material in the mind of the learner.

It is an idiosyncratic reconstruction of what
the learnerthinks she understands, tempered by
existing knowledge, beliefs, biases, and
misunderstandings.
-A.H. Johnstone
J. Chem. Ed., (1997) 74, 262.
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Social Learning

• Current research on human learning indicates
  that the acquisition and application of knowledge
  are fundamentally social acts.

-R.F. Elmore
Education for Judgment, C.R. Christansen, D.A.
Garvin, A. Sweet, Editors, Harvard Business
School, Boston, 1991.
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New Paradigm

• Knowledge results only through active
  participation in its construction.
• Students teach each other and they teach the
  instructor by revealing their understanding of
  the subject
• Teachers learn by this processby steadily
  accumulating a body of knowledge about the
  practice of teaching.

Teaching is enabling. Knowledge is
understanding. Learning is active construction of
subject matter.
R. F. Elmore in Education for Judgment, Harvard
Business School, Boston, MA. Edited by C. R.
Christensen, D. A. Garvin, and A. Sweet, 1991.
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Learning Cycle (Karplus, Piaget)
inductive
deductive
E
I
A
Concept Invention (Term Introduction)
Exploration
Application

• Parallels the scientific method
• Ideas do not appear in your brain fully formed
• Being wrong is a stage on the way to being more
  right

Karplus and Thier, A New Look at Elementary
School Science, ChicagoRand McNally
(1967). Piaget, J. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 1964, 2,
176.
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Guided Inquiry Approach

• Students work in groups
• Students construct knowledge
• Activities use Learning Cycle paradigm
• Students teach/discuss/learn from students
• Instructors facilitate learning

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Identify the parts of the Learning Cycle in the
ChemActivity

inductive
deductive
E
I
A
Concept Invention (Term Introduction)
Exploration
Application
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Process Skill Development through Guided Inquiry

• Review the GI activity that you worked with
  earlier and think about your experiences as a
  student.
• Consider
• The structure of the GI activity
• The classroom environment that you experienced
• Identify, as specifically as you can, how each of
  the targeted process skills is developed through
  this approach.

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TARGETED PROCESSES

• Information Processing Critical Thinking
• Problem Solving Communication
• Teamwork Management
• Assessment

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Analysis of Student OutcomesWhat is success?

• We define success as the achievement of a grade
  of C- or higher (ABC)
• Lack of success includes grades in the D range,
  F, and withdrawals (DFW)
• More detailed grade distributions will be shown,
  but analysis will be based on this definition of
  success
• Statistical significance is determined by
  chi-squared analysis using these two groupings
  ABC and DFW

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POGIL General Chemistry at Franklin Marshall
College

• Sections of about 24 students
• Lecture F1990 - S1994 n 420
• POGIL F1994 - S1998 n 485
• Students randomly placed Fall semester
• Students designate preference Spring semester
  (but not guaranteed to get their choice)
• Same instructors before and after

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POGIL General Chemistry at Franklin Marshall
College
8 years of data (n 905)
Lecture
POGIL
Data from classrooms of Moog, Farrell and Spencer
Chi-squared 40.9 alpha lt 0.005
Farrell, J.J. Moog, R.S. Spencer, J.N. J. Chem.
Educ. 1999, 76, 570.
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POGIL Organic Chemistry at a Regional Liberal
Arts College

• Two sections - one lecture, one POGIL -taught
  at the same time
• Students randomly placed in sections
• Common exams - prepared and graded by both
  instructors

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POGIL Organic at Regional Liberal Arts College
1998-1999, n 40
Lecture
POGIL
Randomized enrollment, different instructors,
single exam given concurrently, prepared and
graded by both instructors Chi-squared 7.1
alpha lt 0.01
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POGIL Organic I at Large Public University

• Two sections - one lecture, one POGIL -taught
  at the same time
• Students randomly placed in sections
• Midterm exams (not part of study) created and
  graded independently
• Final exam (studied) created solely by lecture
  instructor

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Organic I at Public University Withdrawals and
Common Final Exam Scores, Fall 2000
Lecture n 109
POGIL n 75
47 Withdrawal
12 Withdrawal
Top Half Average 66 pts.
Top Half Average 65 pts.
(Organic I Average Attrition 38)
Chi squared 19.1 Alpha lt0 .005
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GI Organic at 1st Tier Liberal Arts College

• This one is complicated
• Comparison is of grades in a single section of
  Organic II
• Some students took Organic I with GI
• Some students took Organic I with lecture
• Not all students from Organic I enrolled in this
  section of Organic II

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Coverage IssueIs Guided Inquiry Organic I
preparation for Organic II Lecture?
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Performance in Org II(of those enrolled in
Section X)

• Traditional Org I 16 ABC 3 DFW
• POGIL Org I 13ABC 1 DFW
• Chi-squared 0.8
• No significant difference in success

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Conclusions

• Students achieved greater success in POGIL
  classes
• Students were prepared for subsequent course
  taught in traditional style

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POGIL Workshop Moravian CollegeBethlehem,
PAJanuary 15, 2005
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POGIL Laboratory Experiments
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CONSIDER ALL OF YOUR LABORATORY EXPERIENCES AS A
STUDENT AND AS AN INSTRUCTOR

• Identify a specific course-related laboratory
  experiment that was very successful describe the
  experiment and what about it made it
  successful.
• Identify a specific course-related laboratory
  experiment that was horrible describe the
  experiment and what about it made it horrible.

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Common Laboratory Experiences

• Discuss your successful and horrible
  laboratory experiments with your group. Try to
  find any common characteristics.
• Identify three significant characteristics
  (preferably that you have in common) for the
  successful experiments and for the horrible
  experiments. 10 minutes

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Learning Cycle (Karplus, Piaget)
inductive
deductive
E
I
A
Concept Invention (Term Introduction)
Exploration
Application

• Apply developed concepts
• Test hypotheses
• Higher level of thinking

• Data Acquisition
• What did you do?

• Is there any pattern in the data?
• What did you find?
• What does it mean?

Karplus and Thier, A New Look at Elementary
School Science, ChicagoRand McNally
(1967). Piaget, J. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 1964, 2,
176.
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Conversion of Melting Point Experiment

• Learning outcomes
• Mixing two solids of roughly the same mp results
  in mp depression (empirical, not theoretical)
• Accurately measure melting points
• Competently recrystallize an impure solid
• No time limit on experiment
• Unlimited financial and equipment resources

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WHAT CAN THE POGIL PROJECT DO FOR YOU?

• Introductory One Day Workshops
• In-Depth Three Day Workshops
• On Site Visits and Consultancies
• Ongoing Support and Advice via Phone and Email

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3 DAY WORKSHOPS SUMMER, 2005(TENTATIVE)

• Stony Brook University June 6-8
• Portland or Seattle late July
• Upper Midwest sometime?
• Washington College (MD) mid-July
• (for lab development)

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AVAILABLE MATERIALS

• Printed full-course activities
• Printed modular activities
• Web-based activities
• Quantum states CD

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Social Learning

• Current research on human learning indicates
  that the acquisition and application of knowledge
  are fundamentally social acts.

-R.F. Elmore
Education for Judgment, C.R. Christansen, D.A.
Garvin, A. Sweet, Editors, Harvard Business
School, Boston, 1991.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF POGIL MATERIALS

• Designed for use with self-managed teams that
  employ the instructor as a facilitator of
  learning rather than as a source of information
• Guide students through an exploration to
  construct understanding
• Use discipline content to facilitate the
  development of higher order thinking skills

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INTENDED OUTCOMES

• The POGIL approach for teaching will be adopted
  by faculty at a variety of institutions.
• These faculty will continue to innovate and use
  student-centered teaching strategies.
• A network of experts and developing novices will
  be created that will use the pedagogy, instruct
  others in its use, and develop new materials.
• Many faculty across the country will gain an
  increased awareness of new practices.

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Elements of a Successful Scientific Learning
Community

• Student-student interaction
• Technical support, perspective, emotional support
• Opportunity for students to draw their own
  conclusions from data
• Scientific method
• Use tools and methods of real scientists
• Understand the nature of science (process vs. set
  of facts)

a) Lawson, A.E., What Should Students Learn About
the Nature of Science and How Should We Teach It?
Journal of College Science Teaching, 1999
401-411. b) McKeachie, W., Gibbs, G., Teaching
and Learning in the College Classroom A Review
of the Research Literature. 1999, Boston
Houghton Mifflin Co.
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Guided Inquiry One way to expand participation

• Increase student-student interactions by modeling
  effective group work during class
• Focus group work with discovery-based exercises
  that utilize learning cycles

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The Guided Inquiry Teaching Method

• Majority of class spent working in small groups
  (3-4 students)
• Work on a ChemActivity

• Instructor serves as facilitator (not primary
  source of info.)
• Quiz at start of each class (over the previous
  days material)
• Tests and quizzes taken individually

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WHAT IS POGIL?

• POGIL combines
• Process - Oriented Learning
• Guided Inquiry Approach

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Information Processing Model
A. H. Johnstone, J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74,
262. Gazzaniga et al. Cognitive Neuroscience,
1998.
Perception
Working Memory (information that can be acted on
and processed)
Events Observations Instructions
Long Term Memory
Storing
Filter
Retrieving
Storage
Sensory Inputs Acoustic Visual
Storage Preparation (limited space) Interpretatio
n Comparing Rearranging
Ignores large part of sensory information
Feedback loop for perception filter
previous knowledge preferences biases likes miscon
ceptions dislikes