Students’ Assessment of Learning Gains With a POGIL-Based Experimental Psychology Laboratory Curriculum

Abstract

As part of an NSF-funded project, we employed a process-oriented guided-inquiry learning (POGIL) curriculum for the Experimental Psychology Laboratory at Touro College. The Students’ Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument was administered to students who took the Experimental Psychology Laboratory course with and without using POGIL, to assess the impact of the curriculum, and to determine exactly what aspects of the POGIL curriculum students found most helpful. We examined students’ assessment of the construct of “Active Learning” and found the POGIL group rated various aspects of the lab course (e.g., the POGIL lab activities; the assessments; the way the lab activities, readings, and assignments fit together) as significantly more helpful in aiding “Active Learning” than the non-POGIL group (p =.007). Also, the POGIL group was significantly more likely to agree that as a result of the lab course, they made greater gains in the construct “Process Skills” than did the non-POGIL group (p =.02). In particular, within that construct, they reported higher gains in their ability to think through a problem or argument than the non-POGIL group. Thus, the POGIL group not only thought their curricular activities were more helpful but also that their critical thinking skills improved. Also, following the laboratory course, students using the POGIL materials had a better metacognitive awareness of what “understanding” a concept entails (p =.009). Further, they reported finding the course more challenging (p =.016) than students utilizing a traditional curriculum.