Collaborative Research: POGIL-PCL: Student learning in the laboratory through sustained faculty development

Western Washington University, Bellingham WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will conduct Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning-Physical Chemistry Laboratory (POGIL-PCL) workshops for faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. These workshops will be held around the country at a variety of higher education institutions. Additionally, there will be ongoing development of POGIL-PCL experiments, which will serve to engage returning and new faculty participants in sustaining the project. Student learning outcomes resulting from use of POGIL-PCL materials in the laboratory will be examined. Ultimately, the use of evidence-based student-centered active learning in the laboratory will be analyzed and promoted and the learning that students achieve in an active-learning laboratory setting will be characterized. The project will examine the impact a connected community of faculty has on the sustained implementation of this methodology. The project will use social network theory to describe how the adoption of materials is affected by sustained interactions among faculty members after their initial introduction at a workshop. A broad range of institutions will be engaged to reach new and established faculty, and to provide professional development opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Knowledge surveys coupled to think-aloud interviews and adaptations of published instruments will be used to answer questions regarding students' perception of their learning and their understanding of physical chemistry phenomena as a function of participating in POGIL-PCL experiments. Faculty teaching will be observed and characterized on the basis of facilitation and student engagement. The survey and observational data will be analyzed, in part, through the lens of a theoretical framework for coordination of theory and evidence.