What's troubling you? Examining how biology teaching assistants talk about teaching concerns.

IF 1.6 Q2 EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES
Hillary A Barron, Lorelei E Patrick, Julie C Brown, Sehoya Cotner
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Undergraduate students in science classes are more engaged and demonstrate increased performance when instructional methods include authentic science practices and active learning strategies. Non-majors students (i.e., those enrolled in science classes to fulfill a degree requirement) typically receive instruction that is more lecture-based and prescribed, however, which contributes to disinterest, diminished self-expectations, and lower performance. Teaching assistants (TAs) often interact with undergraduate students more closely in science classes than faculty and thus could potentially have far-reaching impacts on these students. Therefore, understanding how TAs think about their science teaching and the concerns they have about their methods can lead to designing more effective TA professional development (PD). In this qualitative study, we explored TA written reflections and employed first- and second-cycle analysis techniques to identify themes reflecting TAs' perceptions of their science teaching and concerns for improvement. We found that TAs' concerns about their teaching centered on three themes: subject-specific concerns, student-centered concerns, and delivery and presentation concerns. Further, these concerns changed over time and varied across TA experience level. We offer insight into how TAs' teaching concerns evolve and discuss the implications of these insights for TA PD.

你有什么烦心事?考察生物助教如何谈论教学问题。
当教学方法包括真实的科学实践和积极的学习策略时,科学课上的本科生更投入,表现出更高的表现。然而,非专业学生(即那些为了完成学位要求而参加科学课程的学生)通常接受的教学更多的是基于讲座和规定的,这导致了不感兴趣,降低了自我期望,降低了表现。助教(助教)在科学课上与本科生的互动往往比教师更密切,因此可能对这些学生产生深远的影响。因此,了解助教如何看待他们的科学教学,以及他们对自己的教学方法的关注,可以设计出更有效的助教专业发展(PD)。在这项定性研究中,我们探讨了助教的书面反思,并采用第一和第二周期分析技术来确定反映助教对其科学教学的看法和对改进的关注的主题。我们发现助教对教学的关注集中在三个主题上:特定学科的关注,以学生为中心的关注,以及教学和演讲的关注。此外,这些关注点随着时间的推移而改变,并且在不同的助教经验水平上也有所不同。我们将深入探讨助教的教学关注点是如何演变的,并讨论这些见解对助教PD的影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES-
CiteScore
3.00
自引率
26.30%
发文量
95
审稿时长
22 weeks
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