Peer instructors see nearly a thousand hours of student face-to-face time per semester in our large-enrollment General Chemistry courses. These “Teaching Interns,” or TIs, are encouraged to facilitate student-led learning in their workshops, recitations, and office hours, as opposed to traditional instructor-centered methods. TIs attend weekly, mandatory pedagogical training sessions concurrently with their teaching duties such that they can directly apply the skills they learn while also receiving timely assistance for any issues that may arise during their teaching sessions. We observed these TIs in their teaching sessions for multiple years to determine the degree to which they are able to implement student-led learning practices. Using discourse analysis, we were able to quantify the changes that take place as the TIs gain experience and pedagogical content knowledge. We also used their weekly online reflection entries and survey data to compare our observations with TI-perceived changes in dialogue. Our results suggest that TIs do use more student-centered dialogue and scaffolding techniques over time, with the largest changes occurring during their first semester as a TI. We will present further data on the components of the pedagogy training deemed most useful by the TIs, as well as their perceived ability to transfer these practices to other aspects of their academic studies.

Turning the tables: Evolution of dialogue in peer instructors

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.