Retention of Science Majors Through Different Avenues of General Chemistry Education

For the past two academic years, the chemistry division at Longwood University has implemented POGIL methodology in some sections of the general chemistry sequence for science majors. Initially we were interested in determining if students exposed to POGIL were more successful in general chemistry than those students that were not exposed to this teaching pedagogy. Subsequent studies compare conceptual learning outcomes of POGIL versus non-POGIL students and also try to determine if SAT and GALT scores are a good predictors of student success in general chemistry. This project also addresses the following question:do science majors exposed to POGIL pedagogy in first semester general chemistry demonstrate increased success in subsequent chemistry courses compared to those students with no POGIL experience? Details about POGIL implementation and challenges as well as the methods of assessment used are discussed