Process-Oriented Guided Inqiury Learning (POGIL) and Research-Based Pedagogy Workshops for Chemistry Graduate Students

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Chemistry (12)This project creates and implements workshops for chemistry graduate students and postdoctoral associates in which the participants are introduced to Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) and the supporting research knowledge base. The workshops are developed and conducted by the PI, who is a current member of the POGIL Project steering committee and an experienced POGIL instructor and workshop facilitator. He is assisted by an experienced member of the POGIL network, and by a graduate student with experience in working with first-year college students. None of the current POGIL projects target graduate students or postdoctoral associates. While POGIL is used as an organizing pedagogic structure, the workshops also discuss other curriculum models such as inquiry-based instruction in general, Peer Led Team Learning, and the use of technology such as "clickers" and tablet PCs. The workshops are hosted at three research-intensive chemistry departments and include up to 35 participants, including interested faculty. Host departments are ones that have not already provided similar opportunities for their students. Workshop participants are learning POGIL by doing POGIL from the moment the workshop starts. They explore the model, its rationale, and student outcome data; they explore extant POGIL materials used in college chemistry instruction; they investigate a rubric-based process for assessing the strength of POGIL materials; and they consider implementation in different classroom settings. Through the POGIL project network and website, maintained at Franklin & Marshall College, participants have a means for staying connected and for increasing their involvement. The workshops are marketed to PhD students and postdoctoral associates in chemistry, particularly those who intend to seek academic positions. The intellectual merit of this project is that it brings chemistry graduate students and postdoctoral associates to a consideration of how the cognitive and social sciences can inform chemistry pedagogy. This is a scholarly approach to instruction which encourages potential future faculty to assume a similar approach in their own teaching. Information is being obtained through evaluation regarding the knowledge and skills needed by future faculty, barriers to their professional development, and their perspectives on the opportunities for becoming active members of a curriculum network at an early stage of their careers. The broader impact of this project is that the workshops are available to any graduate student or postdoctoral associate at the selected institutions. The workshops enrich the knowledge and experiences of those students, and link them to the POGIL project through its database. The workshops increase the number of future faculty who are poised to engage in research-based college instruction, and ultimately should promote stronger student learning outcomes. As new faculty members, these participants will be a resource for their departmental colleagues regarding inquiry-based learning. The evaluation is collecting information about whether these workshops plant seeds for future investments in this kind of professional development within the host departments.