Our Mission, Vision, Foundation and Values

Mission

The mission of The POGIL Project is to improve teaching and learning by fostering an inclusive, transformative community of reflective educators who design, implement, assess, and study learner-centered environments.

Vision

We envision an educational system that prepares every learner to enrich the world by thinking critically, solving problems, working effectively with others, and experiencing the joy of discovery.

Foundation and Values

The way in which we intend to transform education evolves from a set of foundational ideas established by research and a set of community values developed through practice. Together these elements define how we approach teaching and learning.

The shared practices valued by The POGIL Project community include:

  • Using inquiry-based learning materials that are structured following the explore/invent/apply learning-cycle model.
  • Intentionally developing content knowledge and process skills simultaneously in the learning environment.
  • Interacting and collaborating within and across educational levels and disciplines.
  • Incorporating insights from educational research that have implications for classroom practice.
  • Creating inclusive learning environments for students and instructors.
  • Being personally invested in encouraging and supporting the professional development of colleagues.

The foundational ideas for POGIL are that:

  • Learners construct their own knowledge.
  • Learners negotiate meaning actively through student-student discourse in self-managed teams within an instructor-facilitated environment.
  • Effective learning in a team emerges from attending to cooperative learning principles and process skills development.
  • Reflection and assessment enhance individual learning, team function, and teaching practice.