School of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80639.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2019 Sep;18(3):ar43. doi: 10.1187/cbe.18-09-0193.
Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are often the primary instructors for undergraduate biology laboratories and serve as research mentors in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). While several studies have explored undergraduate perceptions of CUREs, no previous study has qualitatively described GTAs' perceptions about teaching CUREs, despite the essential instructional role GTAs play. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and ascribe meaning to the perceptions that GTAs have regarding benefits and challenges with instructional experiences in introductory biology CUREs. We conducted semistructured interviews with 11 GTAs instructing an introductory biology CURE at a 4-year public university. We found that, while GTAs perceived professional benefits such as experience in research mentoring and postsecondary teaching, they also described challenges, including the time required to instruct a CURE, motivating students to take ownership, and a lack of expertise in mentoring undergraduates about a copepod-based CURE. Feelings of inadequacy in serving as a research mentor and high levels of critical thinking were also cited as perceived issues. We recommend that the greater responsibility and increased time commitment perceived by GTAs in the current study warrants reconsideration by lab coordinators and administrators as to what content and practices should be included in pedagogical training specifically designed for CURE GTAs and how departmental and institutional policies may need to be adapted to better implement CUREs.
研究生助教（GTAs）通常是本科生物学实验室的主要教师，也是课程基础本科研究经验（CUREs）的研究导师。尽管有几项研究探讨了本科生对 CUREs 的看法，但以前没有研究从质的方面描述 GTA 对 CUREs 教学的看法，尽管 GTA 扮演着重要的教学角色。这项现象学研究的目的是描述和解释 GTA 对基础生物学 CURE 教学经验的益处和挑战的看法。我们对在一所四年制公立大学教授基础生物学 CURE 的 11 名 GTA 进行了半结构化访谈。我们发现，虽然 GTA 认为在研究指导和高等教育教学方面有专业上的好处，但他们也描述了一些挑战，包括指导 CURE 所需的时间、激发学生的主人翁意识，以及缺乏指导学生进行基于桡足类的 CURE 的专业知识。作为研究导师的不称职感和高水平的批判性思维也被认为是存在的问题。我们建议，在当前的研究中，GTA 所感知到的更大的责任和增加的时间投入，需要由实验室协调员和管理人员重新考虑，应该在专门为 CURE GTA 设计的教学培训中包括哪些内容和实践，以及部门和机构政策可能需要进行哪些调整，以更好地实施 CUREs。
