All aboard! Challenges and successes in professional development for physics lab TAs

Danny Doucette,Russell Clark,Chandralekha Singh

doi:10.1119/perc.2019.pr.doucette

Abstract

At large research universities in the USA, introductory physics labs are often run by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs). Thus, efforts to reform introductory labs should address the need for effective and relevant TA professional development. We developed and implemented a research-based professional development program that focuses on preparing TAs to effectively support inquiry-based learning in the lab. We identify positive effects by examining three possible ways in which the professional development might have impacted TAs and their work. First, we examine lab TAs' written reflections to understand the effect of the program on TAs' ways of thinking about student learning. Second, we observe and categorize TA-student interactions in the lab in order to investigate whether TA behaviors are changing after the professional development. Third, we examine students' attitudes toward experimental science and present one example case in which students' attitudes improve for those TAs who `buy in' to the professional development. Our results suggest lab TA professional development may have a tangible positive impact on TA performance and student learning.

Highlights

AND FRAMEWORKAt large research universities where introductory physics labs are often taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), these TAs may not receive adequate professional development for their work [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
At three levels of analysis, we find evidence that an effective lab TA professional development program has the potential to positively impact the work undertaken by TAs and the learning of their students
After the professional development program, lab TAs demonstrated a shift in how they viewed their role as instructors and how they thought about the nature of student learning

Summary

Introduction

AND FRAMEWORKAt large research universities where introductory physics labs are often taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), these TAs may not receive adequate professional development for their work [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Past work has identified several important elements of effective TA professional development [17], including adapting good ideas to one’s local context [18], establishing a purposeful community of practice [19], and focusing on the development of the TA’s beliefs and identity as an educator [20, 21]. Another key issue is ‘buy-in’: TAs who do not believe in the value of the learning activity will tend to implement it with low fidelity [22], which generally negatively impacts student learning [23]. Achieving buy-in is a complex effort that depends on the context of the professional development and a variety of social cues that, when effective, work together to help TAs come to value the planned learning activities [24]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion