Patrick Lorelei E, Barron Hillary A, Brown Julie C, Cotner Sehoya
Biology Teaching and Learning Department, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN 55455.
Department of Biological Sciences, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS 67601.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2021 Jan 29;22(1). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v22i1.2473. eCollection 2021.
Evidence-based teaching practices (EBTP)-like inquiry-based learning, inclusive teaching, and active learning (AL)-have been shown to benefit all students, especially women, first-generation, and traditionally minoritized students in science fields. However, little research has focused on how best to train teaching assistants (TAs) to use EBTP or on which components of professional development are most important. We designed and experimentally manipulated a series of presemester workshops on AL, dividing subjects into two groups. The Activity group worked in teams to learn an AL technique with a workshop facilitator. These teams then modeled the activity, with their peers acting as students. In the Evidence group, facilitators modeled the activities with all TAs acting as students. We used a mixed-methods research design (specifically, concurrent triangulation) to interpret pre- and postworkshop and postsemester survey responses. We found that Evidence group participants reported greater knowledge of AL after the workshop than Activity group participants. Activity group participants, on the other hand, found all of the AL techniques more useful than Evidence group participants. These results suggest that actually modeling AL techniques made them more useful to TAs than simply experiencing the same techniques as students-even with the accompanying evidence. This outcome has broad implications for how we provide professional development sessions to TAs and potentially to faculty.
基于证据的教学实践（EBTP），如探究式学习、包容性教学和主动学习（AL），已被证明对所有学生都有益，尤其是科学领域的女性、第一代大学生以及传统上处于弱势的学生。然而，很少有研究关注如何最好地培训教学助理（TA）以使用EBTP，或者专业发展的哪些组成部分最为重要。我们设计并通过实验操纵了一系列关于主动学习的学期前研讨会，将受试者分为两组。活动组在研讨会主持人的带领下分组学习一种主动学习技巧。然后这些小组对该活动进行模拟，让他们的同伴扮演学生。在证据组中，主持人对活动进行模拟，所有教学助理都扮演学生。我们采用混合方法研究设计（具体来说，是并行三角测量法）来解读研讨会前后以及学期后的调查反馈。我们发现，研讨会结束后，证据组参与者报告的主动学习知识比活动组参与者更多。另一方面，活动组参与者发现所有主动学习技巧都比证据组参与者更有用。这些结果表明，实际模拟主动学习技巧对教学助理来说比仅仅作为学生体验相同技巧更有用——即使有相关的证据。这一结果对于我们如何为教学助理以及潜在地为教师提供专业发展课程具有广泛的启示。
