Share the Wealth: A Catalytic Activity Kate Walsh, MCEP Cohort- 6 EDUC: 536 – The Teaching and Learning of Chemistry Dr. Kate Scantlebury Fall ‘05/Spring ‘06

Project The presentation which follows was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Metro-Washington DC Chemistry Teachers The focus was on the results of my research on the implementation of POGIL in my AP Chemistry Course

Meeting Format 2 other presentations were made. Dr. Diane Bunce, Catholic University – presented “Different Strokes for Different Folks: Using a variety of teaching styles to reach more of our students Dr. Angel de Dios, Georgetown University – presented on the freshman chemistry cirriculum at Georgetown University.

Meeting Format Each presentation was followed by questions and answers and a chance to share best practices We also toured Georgetown Visitation’s science facilities

Feedback Meeting organizer, Sharon Hillery’s, follow-up email: Dear fellow chemistry teachers, Thank you to all who attended yesterday’s meeting at Visitation. I found Kate Walsh’s presentation to be very enlightening about POGIIL (Inquiry learning) and Dr. Diane Bunce – as always- gives a great lecture and provided much for us to think about as we examine our teaching styles and methods. Dr. de Dios’ web page for the schools in the Philippines seems like a good resource for us as well. I hope those who attended had a good day. I would appreciate any feedback – positive or not – and also suggestions for a future day – maybe in the autumn. Sharon Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School 1524 35th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007 202-337-3350  voice mail ext. 4417 hillery@visi.org

Fighting the Good Fight Implementing POGIL in an AP Chemistry Course Kate Walsh Georgetown Preparatory School April 6, 2006

Background POGIL P- Process O-Oriented G-Guided I - Inquiry L – Learning Developed by Spencer & Moog at Franklin & Marshall College

Background Key Components: 1. Small groups of Students 2. Information 3. Leading questions which allow students to formulate knowledge 4. Group discussions of conclusions and/or simultaneous reporting 5. Hands-off position for instructor

Background Reflecting on my first year (2004-2005) of teaching AP Chemistry – poor ability to explain answers Reflecting on my own experience with POGIL- as an undergrad I took 2 semesters of “rigorous organic chemistry” and did quite well yet 2-3 years later retained little to none of it and never really understood much of it.

Basic Hypothesis Use of the POGIL Method will improve students ability to explain/conceptualize their understanding of chemical concepts. Since this is a vital component of the AP Test I felt my AP Students were a perfect test group.

Test Group 12 boys 3 juniors, 9 seniors All take a minimum of 2 AP courses, some as many as 5 This is a second year of Chemistry for all of the boys. All of the boys are enrolled in AB Calculus at a minimum, most are enrolled in BC Calculus.

The Test Testing was implemented by teaching the Kinetics unit using a traditional “chalk and talk” style and then teaching the Equilibrium unit using exclusively POGILs. The POGILs were obtained from the POGIL website or from the text “Chemistry: A Guided Inquiry” Students were tested after each unit using tests compiled from the JCEd website’s conceptual question bank and from the ConcepTest question bank compiled at the Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison.

Challenges This group of students was much more comfortable with the “chalk and talk” presentation. They were generally uncomfortable with the idea of interdependence and had a tendency to want to work only with those with whom they were most comfortable. I had to very carefully moderate the discussions between groups.

Challenges After about the 3rd POGIL students began to warm up to the idea. One major break through occurred when I had the groups simultaneously report their results to the question, “define what is meant by the term at equilibrium” I think the students finally saw why there was value in the group effort

Outcomes Chalk & Talk POGIL Mean 66.7 77.8 Median 69.5 78.7 Std. Dev. 15.5 10.0

Challenges Small sample The 2nd exam was the last of the quarter All male and high achieving test group

QUESTIONS ? References: www.pogil.org Contact info: kwalsh@gprep.org