Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL)is an activity-based
group-learninginstructional strategy. The main objective of POGIL is to help the students to master the discipline, content, and develop essential learning skills simultaneously.
POGIL was devised in 1994 to better teach general
chemistry. Today, POGIL is implemented in a wide range of subjects in more than 1,000 American high schools and colleges.
Activities
There are two crucial aspects to the design of a POGIL activity. First, sufficient appropriate information must be provided for the initial exploration so that students are able to develop the desired concepts. Second, the guiding questions must be sequenced in constructed manner so that students reach the appropriate conclusion, develop various process and learn skills.
Typically, the first few questions build on students' prior knowledge and direct attention to the information provided by the model. This is followed by questions designed to help promote the recognitions of relationships and patterns in the data, leading toward some concept development. The final questions may involve applying the concepts to new situations and generalizing students' new knowledge and understanding. Thus, POGIL activities follow the structure of the learning cycle of exploration, concept
invention
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...
, and application. POGIL instruction has a strong basis in
constructivism
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
.
Classroom implementation
Students in a POGIL classroom may work in small groups of three or four to tackle a specifically designed activity. Each student is assigned a role, such as a task manager, recorder, spokesperson, or reflector. The instructor acts as a facilitator. In their groups, students may discuss and analyze problems and their answers to questions that are crafted to help lead them to consider the general ideas in question and to construct their own understanding of important concepts. As they formulate their ideas, they may share their understanding and discoveries with other groups.
Rather than having the instructor begin class by defining terms and laying out concepts, students work actively to master material and formulate a deeper understanding of content. Built into the experience is the support of a variety of important process skills, including communication, teamwork, and
critical thinking
Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased an ...
, which translates to a more complete understanding of the entire concept, and a lasting understanding of the material.
The POGIL Project
The teaching method of POGIL is supported by the POGIL Project,
a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
501(c)3
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...
organization based in Lancaster, PA. The POGIL Project has earned numerous grants from the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
and other sources. The POGIL Project is based on an understanding of the important components of an effective faculty development structure. The project trains faculty to implement POGIL in their classrooms and creates new POGIL materials through a multitude of opportunities including
workshops
Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the onl ...
, on-site visits, and consultancies. The project also hosts an annual POGIL National Meeting to grow and expand the POGIL community.
The current director of The POGIL Project is Rick Moog, a Professor of Chemistry at
Franklin & Marshall College
Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankl ...
. Dr. Moog has used POGIL materials in his teaching since 1994 and is a co-author of POGIL materials for both
general
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...
and
physical chemistry
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical ...
.
References
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External links
The POGIL Project
Pedagogy