Professors and students at Portland State are working together to reinvent the classroom setting altogether. Through a project called Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, or POGIL, instructors are replacing their traditional lectures with interactive, small group activities. So far at PSU, this attempt has been held in chemistry and biology classrooms.
Dr. Robert Strongin, an organic chemistry professor at PSU, is the project lead in POGIL. “The science educational literature on POGIL, and active learning techniques in general, demonstrates that students benefit compared to more traditional classes,” Strongin said. “Studies to date have shown that chemistry students learn more and achieve better grads in POGIL classrooms, as compared to the control classes taught by the same instructors.”
Strongin has integrated POGIL into his own lectures at the Collaborative Life Science Building. The CLSB is a building that brings together OHSU, Oregon State, and PSU teaching facilities. The main lecture hall is specially designed to encourage group work, such as POGIL.
“I love the POGIL system for chemistry. We basically work with other students in groups solving complex chemical problems,” said Benjamin Danilevski, a biochemistry student in enrolled in POGIL-taught general chemistry. “This gives us the feeling that we are actual chemists trying to decipher complex chemical phenomena. It’s not as hard as it sounds.”
The future of POGIL in classrooms depends greatly on the training of the people involved. In addition to the professor setting the pace and curriculum, the small groups are mediated by Learning Assistants who keep the groups focused.
“The main drawback is the fact that this is a new learning and teaching style for many students and faculty. This requires open mindedness and adaptability,” Strongin said. “It also requires specialized training and extra work for faculty to make such a substantive adjustment to the way in which they teach. For these and related reasons, its use so far has not been widespread.”
“The whole process is guided, first the work-book giving you step-by-step examples of how to approach problems. If that’s too hard or something is unclear for you, there are LAs that come around and help clarify any questions you may have,” Danilevski said.
POGIL may help students develop skills to use outside the class as well.
“Many prospective employers want graduates entering the workforce to have collaborative problem solving skills. POGIL is an excellent way to develop such skills,” Strongin said.