GI: The Guided Inquiry

The effective implementation of guided inquiry (GI) requires the active engagement of students in constructing ideas and mastering material. This chapter provides a review of active learning and its value for supporting student learning in the classroom, with a special focus on cooperative learning that is relevant to the POGIL classroom. It focuses on the guided-inquiry component of the POGIL pedagogy, it is important to recognize that in the classroom implementation of POGIL, the guided-inquiry and process components are highly integrated. In most active learning classes, including those using a POGIL approach, students are working on activities and discussing ideas, and the instructor is doing significantly less lecturing, compared to a traditional classroom. Most inquiry methods use a phased framework to structure the inquiry. Based on the ideas presented in the chapter, it is essential that someone wishing to explore and adopt the POGIL pedagogy become comfortable with the teaching skills needed for an active learning classroom.