POGIL in an inner-city, advanced high school chemistry course

CHED 169

Stephen G. Prilliman, sprill@alumni.rice.edu, Science Department, Harding Charter Preparatory High School, 3333 N. Shartel Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73118
The Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) method was used to teach Advanced Placement™ (AP) Chemistry in an inner-city, mixed ability classroom. The POGIL method was chosen because of the need to address both difficult material and student's deficiencies in basic scientific skills. A number of problems were encountered. Structural issues included short classes (45 or 50 minutes), lack of funding for materials and the need to cover the expansive AP Chemistry. Student attitudes also posed problems. Students reported that POGIL was a good idea in principle but were resistant to working in groups, preferring lectures, and complained that the material was “not being taught”. Solutions included creation of more concise, focused POGIL activities, use of “guided” POGIL activities (using POGIL's as class guides for Socratic learning), and integration of POGIL activities with laboratory exercises. Future plans include the use of student “teaching assistants” and student authored POGIL's.