Preparing GTAs for Active Learning in the General Chemistry Lab: Development of an Evidence-Based Rehearsal Module for a Mixed-Reality Teaching Simulator

Creation of A Mixed-Reality Simulator Professional Development Module to Attend to the Unique Needs of International Teaching Assistants in Active Learning Classrooms

“…In many ways, the ITAs thought that the simulator was realistic in that the avatar students behaved like their real students and that the environment was similar to the chemistry labs. This finding agreed with that of previous studies that showed the simulator was effective in supporting authentic practice for chemistry GTAs (Geraets et al, 2021). The main difference the ITAs mentioned was that they felt like they did not need to control their facial features in the simulator as much as they would with their own students because they did not think that the avatar students could see them.…”

“…Using rehearsal-based training with fully immersive role-playing performances allows for a more authentic environment. A rehearsal-based simulator can better reflect students in the classroom by having a trained interactor act out research-based actions and discourse (Geraets et al, 2021). With intentional phrasing and literature-based student reactions, the practice environment can be extremely realistic for GTAs and contain less variability during rehearsals.…”