Students enter the PharmD program at different points in their career, requiring a foundation in organic functional groups and an orientation toward active learning. During Prep Week, professional students are asked to reflect on their pre-existing attitudes about learning through introductory and team building exercises. To achieve educational outcomes in the affective domain, weekly POGIL activities and think-pair-shares are adapted for use in a one-semester biochemistry course for 100 pharmacy students. Time management and Socrative poll questions were found to be a key factor in maintaining student attention. Limiting each team discussion to 10 minutes specifically resulted in improved course evaluations. Individual worksheets are graded for effort with periodic team posts made to the discussion board. Each prepared module reading is linked to a 300-question quiz bank, journal entries, concept mapping, and a team Readiness Assurance Test. Effective learning methods are modeled through the use of activity and quiz questions that involve higher-order thinking in preparation for the exams. Second-year students lead weekly Supplemental Instruction sessions, combining what-to-learn with how-to-learn. Students’ perceptions of learning gains and their performance on pre- and post-tests are compared for the biochemistry course.

Implementing POGIL in a first-year biochemistry course for pharmacy students

251st National Meeting (2016)

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