An Intensive Training Program for Effective Teaching Assistants in Chemistry

Abstract

We report an intensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program developed at The University of Chicago. The program has been assessed and has been successful in preparing GTAs for effective discussion and laboratory teaching for both general and organic chemistry. We believe that this training program can provide insightful information to benefit other similar GTA training programs in the future.

Mentoring Graduate Students to Become Effective Teaching Assistants: Developing and Implementing a Student-Centred Program for Nursing

“…Most of the published descriptions of GTA professional development programs outline department-specific teaching programs, are often published from smaller universities in the United States, and frequently focus on the sciences or the social sciences. The programs described in these publications focus on professional development of GTAs to provide assistance in large undergraduate classes in engineering (Crede et al, 2010), chemistry (Dragisich et al, 2016;Pentecost et al, 2012), mathematics (Harris et al, 2009;Moore, 2005), and kinesiology (Russell, 2008), which all have significant laboratory components. The emphasis in these papers is frequently on staffing and ensuring that appropriate scientific information is transmitted to students, rather than on taking a proactive approach to preparing graduate students for academic teaching careers (Dragisich et al, 2016;Pentecost et al, 2012).…”

A Professional Development Activity to Help Teaching Assistants Work as a Team to Assess Lab Reports in a General Chemistry Course

“…Examples for TAs’ professional development experiences are described in many fields, for example in mathematics, in biology, in engineering, and in physics . Most of the research on TAs’ professional development relates to general teaching skills, while only a few studies relate to teaching in open‐inquiry environments or to assessment knowledge needed to grade and give feedback on scientific lab reports, specifically in chemistry …”

“…They have a large influence on the learning and development of undergraduate students, which in turn may affect future career choices. Therefore it is important for departments to pay attention to the quality of teaching by TAs since it has the potential to impact the future scientific community . Thus their expertise regarding the laboratory environment and how to engage students in learning in the lab is very important.…”

Teasing apart the impacts of curriculum and professional development on teaching assistants’ teaching practices

“…One-time, pre-semester workshops are the predominant mode of PD for TAs [ 37 ], despite studies suggesting that one-time workshops are often ineffective in changing instructors’ teaching practices [ 38 ]. Sustained, multi-session PD programs can be successful in shifting TAs’ ideas about teaching, and/or TAs’ teaching practices in the classroom [ 24 , 25 , 29 , 35 , 36 , 39 – 41 ]. For example, multi-session PD programs have resulted in increased use of student-centered teaching practices [ 36 ], changes in TAs’ attitudes and ideas about teaching [ 29 ], and TAs reporting increased knowledge of topics covered during PD [ 39 ].…”