Exploring the Impact of POGIL on Student Engagement and Conceptual Understanding

该项目旨在通过改进本科生STEM教育和确定最佳实践来提高学生的参与度，从而服务于国家利益。大量研究表明，以循证为基础的教学策略，如过程导向的研究性学习(POGIL)，可以带来更好的学生结果，从更高的成绩到更高的自我效能感和归属感。研究界才刚刚开始了解POGIL为什么会对学生产生这些影响，以及POGIL的哪些方面对最大化学习和其他结果最重要。这个项目计划调查学生的参与度和理解力如何受到教学方法的影响，包括互动讲座(穿插学生活动的讲座)和POGIL。众所周知，参与度对学生的学习很重要，但这种参与度的性质和程度并没有很好的记录。这两种方法都涉及多种练习，但对于教师使用哪些练习以及由此对学生学习产生的影响，人们知之甚少。本项目计划：(1)检验学生和教师在POGIL活动和互动讲座中与参与相关的行为的异同；(2)测量课堂观察结果与学生和教师对学生参与的感知之间的同时效度；(3)寻找学生在使用POGIL活动引入概念和使用互动讲座引入概念时对概念的理解可能存在的差异。为了探索学生参与和学习之间的关系，PI将使用POGIL或互动讲座来衡量同一名教师在不同课堂上对同一名学生的敬业度。还将分析学生通过POGIL介绍概念时与通过互动讲座时的学习情况。学生的参与度将通过三角测量课堂观察与学生和教师的评分来衡量。将开发和管理测验，以测量不同类型的概念理解。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by improving undergraduate STEM education and identifying best practices to increase student engagement. Numerous studies have shown that evidence-based teaching strategies, such as Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), lead to better student outcomes, from higher grades to increased self-efficacy and sense of belonging. The research community is only beginning to understand why POGIL has these effects on students and what aspects of POGIL are most important for maximizing learning and other outcomes. This project plans to investigate how student engagement and understanding are affected by instructional approaches, including interactive lectures (lectures interspersed with student activities) and POGIL. Engagement is known to be important to student learning, but the nature and extent of this engagement is not well documented. Both approaches involve multiple practices, but not enough is known about which practices faculty use and the resulting impact on student learning. This project hopes to identify how these practices impact student outcomes, and how faculty can enhance these outcomes.This project plans to: (1) Examine similarities and differences in engagement-related behaviors of students and instructors during POGIL activities and interactive lectures; (2) Measure the degree of concurrent validity between classroom observation results and the student and instructor perceptions of student engagement; and (3) Look for possible differences in students' understanding of a concept when it is introduced using a POGIL activity and when it is introduced using an interactive lecture. To explore the relationship between student engagement and learning, the PIs will measure the engagement of the same students in different class periods taught by the same instructor, using either POGIL or interactive lectures. Student learning when concepts are introduced via POGIL versus interactive lectures will also be analyzed. Student engagement will be measured by triangulating classroom observations with student and faculty ratings. Quizzes will be developed and administered that will measure different kinds of conceptual understanding. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.