They're gone: Building classroom community to promote student retention.

The article focuses on an instructor's experience implementing Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), a student-centered teaching method, in nonmajor biology courses at a predominantly undergraduate state institution with a significant first-generation student population. The instructor adopted POGIL to address high student attrition and disengagement, organizing students into teams using the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) tool and assigning specific group roles to foster collaboration and accountability. Additional strategies included a group final exam and frequent formative assessments to build community, reduce test anxiety, and promote active learning. These changes transformed the classroom environment, increasing student engagement, teamwork, and retention despite initial resistance to group work.