The shift from professor-centered lecturing to student-centered learning can be a difficult one for students who lack confidence in that particular subject area.  Many college students expect to listen during class, and work on their own or with a study group to learn the material outside of class.  POGIL, Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, flips this on its head, by using class time for students to work in small groups on problem solving and concept building. While this approach has been adopted at large schools and more selective colleges, we decided to adopt POGIL for some chemistry courses at our university, a non-selective, private institution with chemistry class sizes of about 30 students.  Notre Dame de Namur University serves a very diverse student population, with over 59% of our undergraduate students coming from underrepresented minority groups.  Since switching to the POGIL approach in General Chemistry and Introductory Chemistry two years ago, we have identified several student concerns that we had to address in order to build the confidence of our diverse student population.  We presumed students would be excited about the switch away from lecture to small group work.  On the contrary, many students felt unprepared for college level chemistry, and did not have confidence in themselves or their peers to lead the problem solving efforts on their own.  Students are not aware of how their learning is different in lecture vs. group work.  We have tried to address these challenges through formal and informal processes during class as well as structured reflection and summary assignments.  We will present preliminary data on the impact of POGIL on the long-term retention of General Chemistry concepts needed in subsequent chemistry courses.  Remaining challenges include effectively facilitating student reflection, managing dysfunctional groups, and structuring activities for a 50 min class session.

"The instructor never lectures": The ups and downs of student-centered learning in chemistry

248th National Meeting (2014)

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