The Effectiveness of POGIL on High School Student Chemistry End-of-Course Exams

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative research study was to determine if and to what extent there were differences in chemistry end-of-course (EOC) exam scores between high school chemistry students taught using POGIL pedagogy and non-POGIL pedagogy in the state of Utah. Piaget’s cognitive development theory and Johnstone’s cognitive load theory served as the theoretical foundations. A large, public school district in the state of Utah provided the de-identified, archival data for this study, which consisted of students that took a chemistry course and chemistry EOC exam in 2015-2016 or 2016-2017. The research question sought to find whether there was a statistically significant difference in chemistry EOC exam scores for high school students in both groups. A one-way ANOVA demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the POGIL and non-POGIL student groups on the dependent variable of chemistry EOC exam scores, F(1, 314) = 29.91, p < .001, partial η2 = .087, (p < .05). This study supported POGIL pedagogy as an effective instructional strategy for improving student chemistry EOC exam scores.