Session X4: Programs to Prepare Teaching Assistants to Teach

Preparing Undergrads to Teach (Well): The Colorado Learning Assistant Model

We report here on efforts at the University of Colorado, Boulder, to implement and investigate a model program with undergraduate Learning Assistants [1], a program designed to facilitate educational reforms while also recruiting and supporting future K-12 teachers. We use the LA program to support the implementation of innovations developed by the Physics Education Research community [2,3], and we document sustained learning gains from multiple instructors that exceed twice the national average for traditional courses, as well as the promotion of expert-like beliefs about the nature of physics and learning physics[4]. A central theme of our studies is to measure and understand the impact of these reforms on three populations - faculty, students in the class, and of course the Learning Assistants themselves. \newline [1] V. Otero et al., Science 28 (2006) 445-446. \newline [2] E. Redish, ``Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite,'' Wiley 2003 \newline [3] L. McDermott, P. Shaffer and the PEG, ``Tutorials in Introductory Physics,'' Prentice Hall 2002 \newline [4] S. Pollock, N. Finkelstein, Phys. Rev. ST PER 1 (2005) 010101   

Professional development of graduate TAs: The role of physics education research

For approximately 15 years, the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington has been offering an academic-year teaching seminar that is required for all new graduate TAs in physics. The seminar, conducted in the context of \textit{Tutorials in Introductory Physics,}\footnote{\textit{Tutorials in Introductory Physics,} L.C. McDermott, P.S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, Prentice Hall (2002).} is designed to help prepare graduate students and junior faculty to teach introductory physics more effectively. In the seminar, TAs have an opportunity to learn (or relearn) basic concepts that they have likely not studied for many years, to reflect on student understanding of these concepts, and to gain experience with instructional strategies that have proved effective in helping students learn. The seminar represents an important step in developing a comprehensive, research-based TA preparation program that deepens content understanding and fosters effective instructional practices. Examples from ongoing investigations will be used to illustrate the role of physics education research in informing the design and implementation of professional development programs for future faculty.   

Preparing and Sustaining Teaching Assistants

For the past 15 years, we have developed and implemented a systemic approach to using the approximately 80 teaching assistants employed by the physics department. The goal of this program is to make the experience valuable for the teaching assistants, the undergraduate students they serve, the professors, the department, and the university. This operation puts teaching assistants into teaching situations in which they can be successful and then gives them the minimal support they need to be successful. The teaching situation emphasizes their role as coaches for their students. The minimal support includes five full days of orientation to get them ready for teaching, a weekly seminar program to address components of their teaching as they arise, mentor TAs to give personal feedback, and planned meetings with the course professor to make sure that their actions are integrated into a course. This talk will describe the features of this program. Some of the materials used can be found at http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/