Recommendations to reform the STEM educational experience in higher education and reduce high attrition rates include adding more “active learning,” particularly in the laboratory components of entry level courses. However, instruction in these laboratories is often by graduate teaching assistants (TAs) who have little pedagogical expertise to be able to implement the reform. Thus, with the support from a HHMI undergraduate science education award, we developed a professional development workshop series structured around the scientific method and Bloom’s Taxonomy for chemistry TAs to equip them to deliver active/inquiry-based learning components in the laboratories they teach.<br/> <br/>Pre and post-assessments were used to evaluate the impact. Not surprisingly, prior to the series, the graduate teaching assistants were confident in their knowledge of the scientific method, formulating hypotheses, designing experiments, and analyzing data. However, they were less confident about teaching those skills to students and their abilities as teachers. Post-workshop results indicated significant gains in greater confidence in classroom management, communicating to a broad and diverse audience, and implementing inquiry-based teaching to help students learn. An optional year-long mentoring program with seasoned faculty further encouraged the TAs to reflect on what they had learned, discuss their teaching successes and concerns, and continue to work for improvement. This mentoring community provided a space to grow further and develop and substantially increased their confidence as budding teaching professionals and to engage in inquiry teaching in both in-person and remote teaching settings.

Promoting inquiry-based teaching in chemistry laboratories: Professional development for TAs

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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