The Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) instructional approach is designed to help students learn chemistry while encouraging the development of process skills such as communication and critical thinking. POGIL materials are designed to guide the students though the chemistry concepts, but facilitation can influence the students’ conceptual understanding of the content and the development of process skills. This case study focuses on how an instructor’s implementation of the POGIL materials influenced student argumentation and conceptual understanding of thermodynamics. Data was collected by recording student and instructor interactions and conversations. This data was then studied with an analytical approach that examined how the class translated between macro/submicro/symbolic levels of representation, Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation and the Inquiry Oriented Discursive Moves framework. Analysis of the POGIL materials using the levels of representation helped to identify which questions encouraged which representational level of conceptual thinking, and the extent to which they prompt meaningful collaborative discourse. Analysis of the instructor’s implementation, student interactions, and the materials provided insight regarding the nature of small group and whole class conversations, the nature and quality of student generated arguments, and students’ conceptual understanding of thermodynamics.

How instructors and materials influence the development of scientific arguments and conceptual understanding of thermodynamics in POGIL classrooms

249th National Meeting (2015)

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