In the CS POGIL activity writing kickoff workshop, we did some activities to become more familiar with how to write good POGIL activities. One of the exercises had me thinking more about it even after the exercise was done. While thinking about the model, I even invented a different definition for the concept, better (in my opinion) than the one given by the model. This is a good feature for models in my own POGIL activities: a good model will keep students thinking about the new concept after the activity is over. The exercise was helpful to me because it focused on the invention part of a POGIL activity, which is something I’m not used to in activity designs.

We often talk about “flipped classrooms,” normally understood to mean the lecture is replaced by students reading at home and then working on homework during class. But a well-written POGIL activity is the real flip: Instead of an individual student observing a well-known concept discovered ages ago, students in a group context invent a concept themselves, maybe even in a new, productive way. Not only is the learning deeper, but the curriculum is decolonized.