Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics & Kinetics: A Guided Inquiry

Kendall Hunt is excited to partner with The POGIL Project to publish materials in a variety of disciplines that are designed for use in active learning, student-centered classrooms.

POGIL is an acronym for Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning. Because POGIL is a student-centered instructional approach, in a typical POGIL classroom or laboratory, students work in small teams with the instructor acting as a facilitator. The student teams use specially designed activities that generally follow a learning cycle paradigm. These activities are designed to have three key characteristics:

• They are designed for use with self-managed teams that employ the instructor as a facilitator of learning rather than a source of information.
• They guide students through an exploration to construct understanding.
• They use discipline content to facilitate the development of important process skills, including higher-level thinking and the ability to learn and to apply knowledge in new contexts. 

For more information, please visit www.pogil.org

Tricia Shepherd received a B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the University of Idaho and a Ph.D. in theoretical physical chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology.  Her first academic position was at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, where she rose through the ranks to Professor. She then moved to Austin, TX where she was Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at St. Edward’s University until 2018. Dr. Shepherd has most recently taught physical chemistry courses at Moravian University, Franklin & Marshall College, and Tuskegee University. Within The POGIL Project, she has served as a regional coordinator, facilitated workshops, and contributed to the POGIL Activity Clearinghouse (PAC) in support of activity development and dissemination. In 2016, she received the POGIL Early Achievement (PEACH) Award.

Sean Garrett-Roe received his B.S in chemistry from Princeton University (1999) and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley (2005). From 2006 to 2011, he was a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Zurich with Prof. Peter Hamm, where he developed three-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (3D-IR) of hydrogen bonding in water. Sean joined the chemistry department of the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor in 2011 and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2018. At Pitt, his research has focused on ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy (2D-IR) of ionic liquids. He has published more than 40 peer reviewed journal papers. He was awarded the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2017). Sean has used POGIL in his Physical Chemistry courses since 2012. Starting in 2018, Sean has been part of a team of instructors at Pitt implementing POGIL in large-enrollment General Chemistry.

Alex Grushow 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 been heavily involved in innovating the teaching of physical chemistry, starting in graduate school. He was a member of the Physical Chemistry Online Consortium (PCOL) and an early adopter of POGIL.  A former member of The POGIL Project Steering Committee, he has also been involved in the POGIL-PCL Project and is a co-host of the POGIL Podcast.

Rick Moog received an A.B. in chemistry from Williams College and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University. He is currently Professor of Chemistry at Franklin & Marshall College and the Executive Director of The POGIL Project. He is a proud recipient of the 2016 George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education from the American Chemical Society. Rick has been using a guided inquiry approach to teaching and chemistry since 1994, and is the coauthor of POGIL materials for general chemistry and physical chemistry.