Case Study 1: Pomona Chemistry Collective

We worked with Professor Nicholas Ball at Pomona college to transform his college chemistry classroom with the goals of 1) eliminating power dynamics between professor and students, 2) meeting students' needs, and 3) building a sense of safety and community. Our team provided direct consultation to Professor Ball that allowed him to transform the punitive academic model into a restorative and relational collective-learning model. 

This project came into fruition in 2020 after a conversation between Professor Ball and Professor Jorge Moreno, with whom Movement Consulting co-developed the structure for an introductory astrophysics collective classroom.

Below is an overview of the strategies implemented.

Direct Demands and Accommodations

As an essential component of eliminating hierarchy in the classroom, students anonymously shared their needs and what could be done to improve their learning and collective experience via a biweekly survey. Movement then worked with Professor Ball to implement their feedback in real-time. This centered students in the decision-making process, addressed rather than interpreted their needs, and increased feelings of safety in the classroom.

Community Building

To honor many forms of resource distribution and build a sense of collaboration and community, students engaged in year-long learning communities. Students also participated in a private Slack community where they formed study groups, shared experiences, and supported each other.

Evaluation and Feedback

In order to evaluate the impact of our Collective Classroom model, the Movement team surveyed all students before and after the course. The data showed students feeling more empowered in their learning - a transformative outcome for marginalized students most of all. This was a significant result because of the sudden shift to virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which college students have felt particularly disempowered.

Results

"Students reported sentiments of “feeling accomplished” and wanting to continue to learn subjects that “don’t come naturally.” One student shared that the class aided them in better understanding themself, their strengths and their weaknesses, and helped them to learn skills that they can apply in the future. Another student reflected on the ways in which the classroom environment enabled their internal shift, sharing:

“In the classroom I was given space to be myself, exist, and think. I was given compassion and time and I think that allowed me to be more authentic and not afraid.”

One student specifically rejects the notion that the ideal student should be an “empty vessel,” stating that while some memorization is necessary, “the goal [of teaching] should be to give the student tools to be actors of change” and that this can’t be achieved by students “just being receptacles of information.” This also points to the idea that while students can contribute to the classroom environment, professors play an especially critical role."

- Excerpt from the final report written for Collective Classroom Project