Exemplar Descriptions of NCAPP Sessions 

Thse exemplars are here to help you craft your session submission on the NCAPP application. They are examples of submissions that were accepted at previous NCAPPs.

Birds of a Feather

Environmental science college activities: A small group of environmental science instructors have been working on creating a set of activities for Environmental Science that are targeted for non-science majors and introductory levels.  In this session I hope to discuss our progress and invite others to participate by suggesting additional topics for activities, writing activities, reviewing activities, or classroom testing.

Incorporating real-world context into activities: The majority of POGIL activities are content focused; however, current research suggests that context helps to improve student learning. In this session, we will talk about some of the challenges associated with incorporating real-world context into a content activity. Participants will share contexts that they have used and will brainstorm ideas for new contexts.

POGIL Labs for upper-level chemistry: Brainstorm and share ideas about developing and testing POGIL experiments for upper level chemistry courses. Identify collaborators who can develop experiments together over time. Discuss elements necessary for POGIL lab experiments.

Using POGIL w/other active learning methods:  We will discuss using POGIL in conjunction with other active learning strategies, such as PBL. We will also explore the possibility of using POGIL and PBL to link courses in different disciplines through common themes. All disciplines are welcome!

Facilitation Fishbowl

Facilitating process skill development:  Facilitation of Data Types in Java activity with a focus on, and requesting feedback on, strengthening facilitation of process skills.

Promoting team interactions via a rubric:  Facilitation of Carbon Isotope Ratios in the Atmosphere activity with a focus on, and requesting feedback on, whether incorporating a rubric into an activity session will help to promote (or will hinder) better team interactions.

Reporting out:  Facilitation of Movement Inside the Earth activity with a focus on, and requesting feedback on, improving facilitating whole class discussion and eliciting ideas from all learners.

Role enforcement:  Facilitation of 3D Protein Structure activity with a focus on, and requesting feedback on, role reinforcement by the facilitator during the session.

Poster

It's not the same thing: Writing POGIL activities for secondary art and science Courses:  When STEM activity writers approach non-STEM disciplines, how well do STEM-derived activity formats and writing strategies work? Explore the similarities and differences between one pair of STEM and non-STEM POGIL activity collections.

Specifications grading in an online POGIL chemistry course: In an online POGIL oriented course, specifications grading can be a tool to incentivize participation in a small groups as a key learning process. In specs grading, student scores are based on specific standards (not %) which helps make grading more transparent to students. In this poster I show the specifications grading system I tried in a first-year chemistry course taught under emergency remote conditions. I show how students responded to the system and what changes I will make for future years.

Strategies for facilitating and assessing process skills: The Enhancing Learning by Improving Process Skills in STEM (ELIPSS) project has developed materials and strategies that support the facilitation of process skills. These materials include rubrics that can be used to assess student interactions and completed work and provide students with feedback and suggestions for improvement to further their progress.

Using physical models to motivate vector concepts and calculations: The presenter will share how he has started to teach Multivariable/Vector Calculus by replacing much of lecture time with individual and collaborative guided inquiry activities. As much as is possible, he is trying to motivate the calculus concepts with models from physics and engineering.

Roundtable

Claim, evidence, reasoning in AP courses:  Many AP teachers have found the Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) protocol to be a useful template for students to use when answering AP style questions. In this Roundtable session we will explore ways to teach the protocol in AP courses using POGIL pedagogy.

Putting the PO in POGIL: Encouraging the development of process skills:  This roundtable will provide examples and help participants brainstorm ways to elicit, encourage, and reward the development of process skills within their courses.

POGIL and the resistant student:  Working with students who are not interested or refuse to work well with others in POGIL groups can be a real source of dysfunction.  Solutions can be found in advice both from participants of this roundtable and from experienced POGIL practitioners who have shared their thoughts in a recent survey.

Using belonging and inclusion to aid the transition back To F2F learning: A short presentation on recent literature on belonging and how a sense of belonging impacts success for underserved student populations. This will be followed by small group discussions on increasing and supporting the sense of belonging through POGIL as we transition back to face to face learning in the Fall.