Agenda for 3-Day Workshops

A sample agenda is available for the 2024 summer workshops. 

Draft Agenda for Summer 3-Day Workshops

On Day 1, participants will follow a schedule based on their POGIL experience level. 

  • Those who have never attended a POGIL workshop should attend the Fundamentals of POGIL session.
  • Those who have previously attended a POGIL workshop should attend their choice of Team Formation or Intro to POGIL Labs session. 

On Days 2 and 3, participants will follow a series of sessions (a track) based on their content area interest: Activity WritingClassroom Facilitation, or Laboratory Track. (Note: Laboratory Track is only offered in select locations.)

Session Descriptions & Outcomes:

Click on a session name below for more information

General POGIL Sessions:

Fundamentals of POGIL
Team Formation and Design
Modeling A POGIL Classroom
How Are POGIL Activities Structured?
Introduction to POGIL Labs

Activity Writing Track Sessions

  • This track is designed for experienced POGIL practitioners who have been to a 3-day workshop and who want to have a go at writing their own activities, or new participants in content areas in which no published activities are available.
  • Sessions expand on key elements of writing a POGIL activity – writing questions that follow the learning cycle; developing robust models; incorporating process skills into questions; using POGIL Project rubrics to review and refine your activity.
  • Participants will obtain Collaborative Feedback Training to allow engagement with the POGIL Activity Clearinghouse.
 
Preparing to Write a POGIL Activity
Developing Robust Models
Sprint Writing
Writing for Process Skills Development
Collaborative Feedback Training
 

Classroom Facilitation Track Sessions

  • This track is designed for those with limited or no POGIL workshop experience. 
  • Sessions provide many strategies to improve your classroom facilitation skills—gather creative reporting out ideas; increase student engagement; help students fulfill their roles; and develop student process skills.
  • Several opportunities to participate in and observe an authentic POGIL classroom are included in these sessions.
  • Participants debrief each classroom simulation, gaining new insights and new strategies to try in their own classroom.
Introducing Process Skills
Facilitating and Assessing Process Skills
Improving Facilitation Skills
​​​Effective Facilitation Strategies
Facilitator's Toolbox

Laboratory Track Sessions

  • This track is designed to increase the collaborative nature of your laboratory course; to build an effective strategy for facilitating and implementing guided inquiry experiments; and to develop experiments that require students to engage in scientific discourse with the data they collect.
  • Participants conduct a POGIL experiment from the student’s perspective, learn about facilitating and implementing POGIL experiments in their courses, and write their own laboratory activity following a proven method for successful experiment development.
  • Participants identify the benefits and challenges of using guided inquiry for teaching laboratory classes.
  • Experienced POGIL laboratory instructors guide participants as they begin to write/refine their own laboratory activities.
  • Attending with colleagues or finding collaborators at the workshop is encouraged!
Doing a POGIL Experiment
The POGIL Laboratory Experience
Structure and Facilitation of a POGIL Experiment
Implementation & Introduction to Writing a POGIL Laboratory Experiment 
Writing a POGIL Experiment: Part One
Writing POGIL Experiment: Part Two

Summer Workshop Descriptions 

Fundamentals of POGIL

This session is designed for those with limited or no previous exposure to POGIL. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in POGIL activities, observe facilitation strategies firsthand, learn about POGIL classroom implementation, and discuss common barriers to implementation.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • list the essential elements of POGIL pedagogy and philosophy
  • list desirable student learning outcomes supported by POGIL pedagogy
  • collect strategies to begin implementing POGIL in the classroom

Team Formation and Design

This session promotes discussion of strategies for creating effective student teams, as well as the issue of if, when, and how to change teams.  This session works by drawing upon the variety of experiences that those using the POGIL pedagogy (and other approaches) have with team formation.  

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify the characteristics of effective teams
  • describe a variety of approaches for team construction and changing team composition

Modeling A POGIL Classroom

There is no single way to implement POGIL -- each time there are unique characteristics that can influence how particular goals are achieved. Facilitating a POGIL classroom effectively involves more than student groups and collaborative activities; it requires careful planning and effective classroom management through reflective facilitation techniques. This session is designed to provide participants with an introduction to facilitating POGIL activities. Through this experience, participants will reflect on how facilitation can enhance or interfere with student learning, as well as how facilitation strategies can be critical in the development of student process skills.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify the components of POGIL classroom facilitation
  • provide examples for how the actions of instructors can promote or inhibit development of student process skills
  • propose facilitation strategies for classroom use

How Are POGIL Activities Structured?

This session is an introduction to the essential characteristics and structure of high-quality POGIL activities. Participants will collect tools to help them create cohesive, quality acitivites. After completing this session, participants will be prepared to attend intermediate-level sessions on writing activities.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify the basic components of a POGIL activity, such as a model and learning cycle questions    
  • classify questions in an activity according to the following types: directed, convergent, or divergent
  • classify questions in a learning cycle activity according to the following types: exploration, concept invention/term introduction, or application
  • use both the Learning Cycle and question types to critically analyze activity structure and guide construction of quality POGIL activities

Introduction to POGIL Labs

This session introduces participants to the basic concepts and principles of a POGIL laboratory experience. Participants will complete an abbrevitated POGIL experiement. The criteria for a POGIL laboratory experiment will introduced, and participants will examine the components and structure of the model experiment and compare them to other laboratory experiences.  Please note that this session is optional for those who plan on attending the POGIL Lab Track.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • describe the differences between a POGIL laboratory experiment and a traditional laboratory experiment
  • articulate the components of a POGIL laboratory experiment and correlate them with the components of the Learning Cycle
  • determine the extent to which an experiment meets the POGIL laboratory criteria

Writing POGIL Activities: Preparing to Write a POGIL Activity

In this session, participants will consider what foundational steps to take before writing a POGIL activity, such as developing quality learning objectives, and matching them to assessment questions.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • select active verbs for writing learning objectives.
  • write quality content and process learning objectives for a POGIL activity
  • scaffold a learning activity through metacognition of an assessment question
  • apply the learning objectives POGIL rubric

Writing POGIL Activities: Developing Robust Models

Robust models are the heart of any POGIL activity. In this session, participants will consider the features of a robust model including how to avoid implicit bias.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify features common to robust models
  • promote inclusion by examining models with diverse learners in mind
  • apply the Robust Models POGIL rubric

Writing POGIL Activities: Sprint Writing

Practice all you have learned about writing a POGIL activity with this guided session. Choose your own topic and produce a first draft of an activity.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • write 1-3 quality learning objectives
  • consider an assessment question create a scaffold
  • develop a concept for a robust model
  • outline a learning cycle, and write some questions

Writing POGIL Activities: Writing for Process Skill Development

Process Skill development can occur through the facilitation of a POGIL activity and by embedding questions that target a process skill within an activity. In this session, you will explore several ways to focus students on their process skill development.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • write a quality process skill learning objective
  • examine questions meant to improve process skills of students
  • evaluate an activity using the POGIL Process Skills rubric

Writing POGIL Activities: Collaborative Feedback Training

During this double session, participants will learn more about the POGIL Activity Clearinghouse (PAC) and work through the Collaborative Feedback Training that is required to become a member of the PAC.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • employ the POGIL Learning Cycle and Process Skills rubrics to assess a sample activity
  • collaborate with team members to provide constructive feedback to an activity author
  • participate in a calibration activity using POGIL rubrics
  • participate in the PAC as a reviewer or author

Classroom Facilitation: Introducing Process Skills

In this session, participants will examine the seven process skills in a variety of contexts. Participants will acquire several effective tools for introducing process skills to students and facilitating student reflection on process skills.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • define each POGIL process skill
  • identify methods to raise students' buy-in for the use of process skills
  • implement strategies to teach students to use process skills
  • enable students to reflect on their group's use of process skills

Classroom Facilitation: Facilitating and Assessing Process Skills 

In this session, participants will consider how process skill development can be enhanced during collaborative learning when assessment and feedback are provided. One way in which particular process skills are developed in active learning environments is through student-student interactions. Monitoring these interactions provides a means to incorporate the assessment of process skills into regular classroom practice.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • explore process skills and behaviors that provide evidence for them
  • gain experience using rubrics to assess process skills
  • discuss strategies that encourage students to reflect on their group's use of process skills and how they can be improved

Classroom Facilitation: Improving Facilitation Skills

This session will provide participants with an opportunity to improve their facilitation skills through facilitating, observing, and/or reflecting on the student experience in a POGIL classroom. In this session, a sub-set of participants will each facilitate an activity of their choice.  All participants will have the opportunity to serve as an observer and a student during the session.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify how facilitation strategies impact the effectiveness of implementing POGIL activities
  • identify how different perspectives of a classroom (i.e. student, observer, and instructor) provide different insights into the learning process
  • improve their own classroom facilitation

Classroom Facilitation: Effective Facilitation Strategies

Effective facilitation requires attention to what is going on in the classroom as well as a set of strategies one can use to respond to a variety of classroom situations.  This session will help participants consider various situations that can impact effectiveness of responses within the classroom, including: disparities in student pacing, dysfunctional student dynamics, and other barriers to student learning in the classroom.   

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify constructive facilitation strategies to ensure the classroom provides an effective learning environment for students
  • describe facilitation practices that are useful when responding to specific disparities and barriers in a POGIL classroom

Classroom Facilitation: The Facilitator's Toolbox

While there are characteristics of a POGIL classroom that are common, instructors have serveral choices when it comes to the facilitation of activities. In this session, participants will explore a wide variety of roles, report-out strategies, introductory activities, assessment rubrics, and pacing techniques.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • choose appropriate team roles and responsibilites for their classroom
  • employ a variety of pacing strategies
  • employ a variety of report-out strategies
  • introduce POGIL pedagogy to their students
  • assess team interactions during POGIL activities

POGIL Labs: Doing a POGIL Experiment

Participants begin the lab track by experiencing an actual POGIL laboratory experiment from the perspective of a student. The experiment can be used at the introductory or more advanced courses in physical science, and includes an emphasis on developing questions and experimental methods. 

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • take on the role of a student performing a POGIL laboratory experiment
  • devise an experimental plan for measuring the rate of a physiochemical process

POGIL Labs: The POGIL Laboratory Experience

In this session, participants will finish the experiment from the previous session and then begin the process of deconstructing the POGIL laboratory experience. Participants will examine the components and structure of the experiment, compare them with the traditional laboratory experience, and correlate them to the Learning Cycle.

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • describe the differences between a POGIL laboratory experiment and a traditional laboratory experiment
  • articulate the components of a POGIL laboratory experiment and correlate them with the components of the Learning Cycle
  • identify elements that make up a POGIL experiment

POGIL Labs: Structure and Facilitation of a POGIL Experiment

Implementing POGIL labs into a course comes with challenges related to student expectations and organization. This session will continue to deconstruct the POGIL laboratory experiment, looking at how the experience was facilitated and what challenges may arise. 

  • describe how facilitating a POGIL experiment differs from facilitating a traditional laboratory experiment
  • explore strategies for successfully facilitating POGIL experiments
  • discuss how to introduce and implement a POGIL experiment in an existing lab course
  • develop ideas for addressing challenges that may arise in implementing POGIL experiments

POGIL Labs: Implementation & Introduction to Writing a POGIL Experiment

This session explores the structure of a POGIL laboratory experiment in greater depth. Participants will work through the key elements of POGIL experiment, including the importance of an Instructor's Handbook. This session also introduces the POGIL experiment screening rubric, which can assist instructors in designing their own experiments. 

After attending this session, participants will be able to:

  • adapt the POGIL pedagogy to teaching laboratory in their discipline
  • use the Instructor Handbook and Initial Screening rubric to assess a POGIL laboratory
  • write draft versions of a POGIL experiment objectives, protocol, and focus question

POGIL Labs: Writing a POGIL Experiment: Part One and Part Two

During the Part One and Part Two sessions, participants will begin to write their own POGIL experiment. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ideas for an experiment that they want to transform from traditional to POGIL. Working as a team is strongly recommended. 

After attending both parts of this session, participants will be able to:

  • identify an experiment that could be re-cast as guided inquiry, and develop a set of content and process objectives for this experiment
  • write parts of a rough draft of an experiment that students would use in at least two learning cycles
  • identify the challenges specific related to writing a guided inquiry experiment, and suggest ways to meet those challenges