Transforming the preparation of physics graduate teaching assistants

Alicea-Munoz, Emily

Title:

Transforming the preparation of physics graduate teaching assistants

dc.contributor.advisor	Schatz, Michael F.
dc.contributor.advisor	Subino Sullivan, Carol
dc.contributor.author	Alicea-Munoz, Emily
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Fenton, Flavio
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Ballantyne, David
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Greco, Edwin
dc.contributor.department	Physics
dc.date.accessioned	2020-05-20T16:58:08Z
dc.date.available	2020-05-20T16:58:08Z
dc.date.created	2020-05
dc.date.issued	2019-12-02
dc.date.submitted	May 2020
dc.date.updated	2020-05-20T16:58:08Z
dc.description.abstract	Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are key partners in the education of undergraduate students. In large-enrollment intro physics classes, students spend roughly half of their in-class hours in labs and recitations under the supervision of GTAs. Since GTAs can have a large impact on their students' learning, it is important to provide them with appropriate preparation for teaching. But GTAs are also students themselves -- they have many demands on their time, and not all of them want to become professors after grad school. Therefore, it is crucial that GTA preparation not be a burden but rather be fully integrated into their professional development. The School of Physics at Georgia Tech has been offering a GTA prep course for first-year Ph.D. students since 2013. The majority of these first-time GTAs have no prior teaching experience but consider teaching to be an important part of their professional development as physicists. Through a cycle of implementation and revision, and guided by the 3P Framework we developed (Pedagogy, Physics, Professional Development), the course has evolved into a robust and comprehensive professional development program that is well-received by physics graduate students. We assessed the effectiveness of the course with a combination of surveys, pre/post tests, and student evaluations. We found that GTAs feel better prepared for teaching after going through the Orientation. GTAs consider most useful the course activities in which they can practice and get feedback on their teaching ("Microteaching", "Lab Simulation") and the lessons in which we discuss the pedagogical content knowledge necessary to teach intro physics labs and recitations ("Teaching Physics"). GTAs who participate in the GTA prep course adopt more learner-centered teaching approaches and increase their pedagogical knowledge. They also receive higher end-of-semester student evaluations than GTAs whose first teaching experience predated the establishment of the GTA prep course.
dc.description.degree	Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62714
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Graduate teaching assistants
dc.subject	GTA preparation
dc.subject	Graduate student professional development
dc.subject	Physics GTAs
dc.subject	Physics graduate teaching assistants
dc.title	Transforming the preparation of physics graduate teaching assistants
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Dissertation
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.advisor	Schatz, Michael F.
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Physics
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication	64922a12-f49e-4b82-b20b-079643cee334
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	2ba39017-11f1-40f4-9bc5-66f17b8f1539
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral