The POGIL Podcast

Welcome to a special episode of the POGIL Podcast!We at the POGIL National Office are excited for 2021, when we will present a virtual National Conference to Advance POGIL Practice meeting (or NCAPP) with the theme of "Transforming Education & Educators.”POGIL Practitioner Dr. Wayne Pearson interviewed next year’s panelists and through their discussion, you will learn about the origins of NCAPP and what to expect next year. Panelists include:Dr. An Le of Florida Southern UniversityDr. Chris Mayfield – James Madison UniversityDr. Kristin Plessel – University of Wisconsin WhitewaterDr. Gail Webster – Guilford CollegePlease Mark your calendars for June 28-30th and we will see you next year!

Dr. Kristin Plessel is a Nebraska native that has been transplanted in Wisconsin. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the UW Colleges’ Rock County campus and chemistry department in 2010, and currently serves as Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. As a graduate student, Kristin was introduced to POGIL, which she immediately applied once she acquired a classroom of her own.For her use of POGIL in the classroom, she was recognized with the Arthur M. Kaplan Fellows Award, the Gil Sedor Excellence in Teaching Award for UW Rock County and the University of Wisconsin System’s 2016 Alliant Energy Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award. Kristin was also the recipient of the POGIL PEAch Award in 2018.

Bruno grew up in Connecticut, and received an A.B. in chemistry from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cornell University, and did a post-doc at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. At UNC he was a fellow in the SPIRE fellowship program, which combines research support and community service with an emphasis on minority careers in academic science. He was first introduced to POGIL as an assistant professor of chemistry at Guilford College. He is currently an Instructor of chemistry at the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics, a public residential high school for talented students, where he uses POGIL to teach chemistry and biochemistry, and has introduced the practice to many of his colleagues who now incorporate the pedagogy into their own classrooms. Bruno was named the recipient of the 2018 POGIL Early Achievement Award (PEACH) in 2018.

Dr. Sheila Qureshi joined Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar (WCM-Q) as a senior lecturer in 2007 and was promoted to associate professor of chemistry in 2018. She obtained her B.Sc. degree in chemistry and biology from the University of London, Goldsmiths College. Dr. Qureshi received her PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Wales' Institute of Science and Technology (now University of Cardiff), UK, where her PhD thesis focused on synthesis of C-glycosides. She did her postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and then moved on to work in the chemical industry where her work involved pharmaceutical production support and development.Qualified in education as well as research, she was involved in the initial development of the pilot Foundation Program at WCM-Q where she supported both students and faculty. In 2009 and 2010, she received the Excellence in Teaching Award in the Foundation Program. She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

We continue our conversation with Dr. Moog, who discusses the origins of the POGIL acronym.

Today is our first official episode of The POGIL Podcast, where we have our co-host Alex Grushow (who is a Professor of Chemistry at Rider University and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry) interview Richard S. Moog, PhD. Moog is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. He is the Executive Director of The POGIL Project and the recipient of the 2016 George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education form the American Chemical Society. Moog is the co-author of POGIL materials for general chemistry and physical chemistry, having implemented POGIL learning environments in his courses since 1994. His research interests include the impact of activity structure and team discourse on student learning.

Before our first season of The POGIL Podcast officially begins, we would like to introduce you to each of our hosts in this inaugural season of the POGIL podcast.First, we have Dr, Alex Grushow. Alex received a B.A in chemistry from Franklin & Marshall College and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at Rider University and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Since his days as an undergraduate he has been fascinated by intermolecular forces and has published papers on molecules held together by hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces, dative bonding and ion-molecule interactions. He has worked as a Program Director for the National Science Foundation and has worked in chemistry examination development for both ETS and the ACS Examinations Institute. He has also been heavily involved in innovating the teaching of physical chemistry; starting as a member of the Physical Chemistry Online Consortium (PCOL) and most recently as a co-PI on two NSF grants to develop POGIL experiments in Physical Chemistry (POGIL-PCL). For The POGIL Project itself, Alex is a past member of the Steering Committee and is also a co-Author of the Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy book published by the POGIL Press.In addition to Alex, we have Wayne Pearson.After growing up in Salisbury Maryland, Wayne received degrees at Virginia Tech (B.S. Chemistry 1974), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (M.S. in Teaching of Physical Sciences 1976) and University of Missouri-Columbia (Ph.D. in Chemistry, 1986). After a year at University of Notre Dame as staff crystallographer, he joined the faculty at the United States Naval Academy where he taught chemistry for thirty-two years until his retirement in December of 2019. After attending a 3-day workshop in 2009, Wayne became a POGIL practitioner, emphasizing inquiry learning in general chemistry, inorganic chemistry and X-ray crystallography courses. Now that he is retired, Wayne spends his time writing and recording music, caring for his tropical fish, staying active with research in small-molecule crystallography and working for the POGIL Project.

Welcome to The POGIL Podcast. “The POGIL Podcast” is a new conversation from The POGIL Project that celebrates innovative educators, both in and out of the classroom. You will hear about what inspired them to become teachers, and how the practice of student-centered education transformed their classrooms and improved outcomes for their students. Learn how they’re innovating outside of the classroom as well! Join us as we “think out loud” with POGIL educators, researchers, and others working to transform teaching and learning for the 21st century.POGIL stands for Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, a student-centered approach that guides students in constructing their own understanding of content and helps them develop important skills such as teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving.The POGIL Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the POGIL approach to student-centered learning through effective teacher professional development, well-designed classroom materials, and a supportive community of like-minded educators. Thanks for joining us and we look forward to bringing you great conversations from The POGIL Podcast!