Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic responsibilities. Although GTAs have substantial instructional facetime with large numbers of undergraduate students, little is known about GTAs’ conceptions of teaching. To investigate the conceptions that GTAs have regarding teaching in this unique context, we conducted 22 interviews with chemistry graduate students from several universities at various levels in their graduate school career using a modified Teacher Beliefs Interview protocol. Interviews were qualitatively analyzed through a sociocultural theoretical lens for two overarching teacher learning constructs: teacher knowledge of practice and teacher identity. Results presented will include the identification and description of chemistry GTA teacher knowledge of practice and degrees to which GTAs participate in their teaching roles. Insights gained from this study can inform the design of future GTA training within a chemistry context to better prepare graduate students for their new role as an instructor.<br/>

Exploration of chemistry graduate teaching assistants’ conceptions about teaching and participation in the teaching role

2019 Spring National Meeting

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