Helen H. Hu

Using POGIL to help students learn to program

POGIL has been successfully implemented in a scientific computing course to teach science students how to program in Python. Following POGIL guidelines, the authors have developed guided inquiry activities that lead student teams to discover and understand programming concepts. With each iteration of the scientific computing course, the authors have refined the activities and learned how to better adapt POGIL for the computer science classroom. This article details how POGIL activities differ from both traditional computer science labs and other active-learning pedagogies. Background is provided on POGILs effectiveness. The article then includes a full description of how POGIL activities were used in the scientific computing course, as well as an example POGIL activity on recursion. Discussion is provided on how to facilitate and develop POGIL activities. Quotes from student evaluations and an assessment on how well students learned to program are provided.

Teaching CS 1 with POGIL activities and roles

The computer science community has started to experiment with process oriented guided inquiry learning, or POGIL, a learning approach that focuses on concept and process skills development by having students work together in organized teams. By emphasizing the learning process and group discussions, instructors who implement POGIL activities and roles in their classrooms may better address the different needs of their CS 1 students. After explaining how POGIL activities differ from other group activities, this paper elaborates on the importance of incorporating the learning cycle when developing a POGIL activity, so as to encourage rich group discussions and teamwork. It then describes the role of the instructor in a POGIL activity, and how POGIL roles need to be adapted for programming activities. It presents the results of using six POGIL activities in three CS 1 sections at a comprehensive liberal arts college, where the pass rate for female students increased compared to historical female pass rates for that class. Students who were introduced to recursion through a POGIL activity appear to have learned the material as well and retained the material better than students who learned recursion through a more traditional group activity.

Deploying Exploring Computer Science Statewide

Exploring Computer Science (ECS) is a high school introductory computer science class designed to increase student interest in CS. Utah is the first state to offer ECS statewide and use it to meet a high school graduation requirement. Over the past four years, 150 teachers have been trained as Utah ECS teachers and over 10,000 Utah students have taken the class. The Utah initiative is unique because it is the first to deploy ECS in a non-urban environment and with a modified half-year curriculum that includes no additional equipment costs. This paper discusses how the Utah deployment was organized, reports its results and unique difficulties, and offers lessons for deployments with similar characteristics: statewide, rural, and limited resources.

Improving computer science diversity through summer camps

Summer camps offer a ripe opportunity for increasing computer science diversity. This panel provides several examples of summer camps that specifically recruit from traditionally underrepresented demographics. The panelists run camps at a community college, a private liberal-arts college, and public universities. The camps are residential and day camps, coed and all-female camps, ranging from three-days to two-weeks long, with campers from 10-years-olds to high school seniors. In addition to describing their camps, the panelists will provide information on securing funding, recruiting campers from underrepresented populations, measuring impact, and lessons learned along the way. Demonstrations of what campers accomplished will also be shown.

Promoting student-centered learning with POGIL

POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) is a type of learning based on the principle that students learn more when they construct their own understanding. Rather than teaching by telling, POGIL instructors provide activities that guide students to discover concepts on their own. Students work in groups, encouraging them to discuss their findings with their peers. Not only do students learn the material better, but the very process of discovery teaches them to be better problem solvers. This special session will provide SIGCSE attendees the opportunity to experience a POGIL activity for themselves. The presenters will share guided inquiry activities tested in our classrooms. We will discuss ways that POGIL may be used to transform computer science classes at all levels, from high school to graduate-level classes, from small schools to large universities.

Results from a Survey of Faculty Adoption of Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) in Computer Science

This paper presents an analysis of CS faculty perceptions of the benefits of POGIL, the obstacles to POGIL adoption, and opportunities for professional development. Participants strongly agreed that with POGIL, students are more engaged and active, develop communication and teamwork skills, and have better learning outcomes. The largest perceived obstacle was lack of preparation time; other obstacles included availability of relevant POGIL activities and pressure to cover more content. Participants expressed a desire for further training and mentoring beyond workshops. Our data analysis also considers bivariate associations and interactions. The results should help to improve professional development for CS faculty adopting evidence-based strategies, and thereby help more CS students to be successful.

Guided inquiry learning in context: perspectives on POGIL in CS

Process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is an active, student-centered approach to teaching/learning [6]. In a POGIL classroom, students work in small teams on inquiry-based activities that guide students to discover concepts. These activities are designed to align with the learning cycle [8] and include elements that are designed to additionally develop process skills (e.g., team work, conflict resolution, written and oral communication, etc.). The role of the instructor in a POGIL classroom is to facilitate student discovery, rather than to deliver lecture. The POGIL approach was developed and refined within the physical sciences and its success in general and organic chemistry courses has been documented in a variety of university contexts. In particular, POGIL classes contain fewer failing grades and withdrawals [9] and result in a high degree of mastery [5] than traditional classes. Because of its success, the approach has begun to be adopted by the computer science community and has generated increasing interest and activity at SIGCSE ([4], [3], [7], [2]). Though the POGIL approach is well-documented, there is no single way to implement a POGIL classroom. The purpose of this panel is to examine the varying challenges to adopting POGIL in different institutional contexts and to explore how POGIL has been implemented in a wide variety of computer science classrooms. In addition to giving a brief overview of the POGIL approach, panel members will

Using POGIL to help students discover CS concepts and develop process skills (abstract only)

This workshop is for anyone who teaches CS, and introduces process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in computer science. POGIL is based on learning science, and shares characteristics with other forms of active, discovery, and inquiry learning. In a POGIL classroom, teams of 3-5 learners work on instructor-facilitated activities. Through scripted inquiry and investigation, learners discover concepts and construct their own knowledge. Using assigned team roles and meta-cognition, learners develop process skills and individual responsibility. Studies show that POGIL can significantly improve student performance. POGIL has particular potential for CS education. Software development is largely a team-based problem-solving activity, and POGIL helps students to learn from each other and develop problem-solving abilities as well as important team process skills. POGIL has been developed and validated over the last 15 years in a range of STEM disciplines. The workshop consists primarily of hands-on team activities. Participants will work through CS activities and a set of meta-activities to explore POGIL practices and activity structures. Participants will also begin to draft parts of their own activities. More information and materials are available at http://cspogil.org and http://pogil.org, including sample activities for topics in a variety of CS courses. Laptops optional. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant DUE-1044679.

Using POGIL activities in computer science classes (abstract only)

POGIL activities are carefully designed to guide students to discover and explore concepts while encouraging students to practice process skills (e.g., team work, leadership and problem solving). Many college instructors have written POGIL activities for CS 1, CS 2, Software Engineering and other upper division CS classes (http://www.cspogil.org). High school teachers are also writing POGIL activities for the AP Principles course. This BOF is an opportunity for educators to share POGIL activities and ideas for improving group dynamics and encouraging reflection. We welcome everyone interested in learning more about POGIL and will provide information on regional POGIL workshops.

Increasing Diversity in the Face of Enrollment Increases

Recently, many computing departments in universities and colleges around the nation have seen increases in enrollments in the major. While these increases are largely welcome, it is important that the student population be diversified even as enrollments swell. What are departments doing to ensure that women are both recruited and retained in this changing environment? This panel will share interventions undertaken by three U.S. post-secondary institutions that have focused on increasing their female and underrepresented student enrollment. Their efforts all include multi-pronged approaches, which is consistent with the social science research on how to create institutional reform in academic departments [1]. These institutions have made changes that reflect increased departmental engagement with recruitment and retention for diversity: a shift in individual faculty pedagogical strategies, introductory course restructuring, as well as more outreach and preparatory programs for incoming students. These departments have not only implemented existing evidence-based practices to make these lasting changes, but have tried new ideas as well.