MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY: Equipping TAs with Inquiry-Based Instruction Methods Jordan Gerton (Utah) & Mike Schatz (Ga Tech) Linda Columbus (Virginia); Sara Skrabalak (Indiana); John Cerne (Buffalo); Luis Echegoyan (UTEP); Brian Saam (Utah) Your name goes here:___________________(sign up below)

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 SIGN UP TO JOIN! Needs:  Program committee  Logistics  Preparation of workshop materials Name How do you want to help?  Breakout session leaders  Website maintenance  Advertising/Dept. list

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 MOTIVATION  TAs play a key instructional role at R1 Universities  They are a major resource, but…  …training is inhomogeneous and often neglected  Traditionally, TAs are primarily utilized in:  UG teaching laboratories  Recitation sessions for large, intro lecture courses  Assessment (grading)  TAs comprise our next generation of faculty instructors  Huge opportunity to positively impact STEM instruction  Help them succeed in the classroom now & in future  Indoctrinate them before developing bad habits

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 TERRA INFIRMA  The education landscape at R1 Universities is shifting:  Use of inquiry-based instruction methods is growing,…  …but pressures on young faculty make it difficult to adopt new methods in situ  R1 Universities must compete with a broader range of alternative education options: for-profit, MOOCs, etc.  The UG laboratory environment is shifting:  2012 PCAST report recommends “replacing standard laboratory courses with discovery-based research courses”  New approaches and technologies: “World as Laboratory”

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 PROJECT OBJECTIVE To provide departments with the tools to broadly adopt interactive and discovery-based teaching methods through education and training of TAs.  Addresses an immediate need for higher performing TAs  Exposes developing scientists to the practice of modern teaching methods during their preparatory years  Encourages development of instruction-focused peer-to- peer and mentorship networks  Fosters skills such as team building, communication, and management in next generation of instructors  Empowers and recognizes graduate students as agents of change within their own institutions

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 PLAN OF ACTION  2-day workshop focused on inquiry-based approaches in introductory labs and recitation sections  Led by CS collaborative in partnership with recognized practitioners (Ken Heller, Priscilla Laws, Melanie Cooper…)  Participants will be 2-person TA/instructor teams to maximize impact upon return to their home department  Develop a suite of print and electronic materials  Outline best practices and case studies  Pre-workshop activities (i.e., we will flip our classroom)  Assessment:  TA/instructor teams will develop an implementation strategy  Teams report to collaborative by end of academic year  Collaborative will survey Chairs from participating Depts.

MOBILIZING THE FORGOTTEN ARMY Cottrell Scholar Summer Conference – Summer 2013 TAs GET READY: THERE ARE CHANGES A COMIN’ In light of rapidly changing instructional landscape (e.g., MOOCs), it's important to take a broader view of Labs & Recitations  Articulating the purpose of the intro labs and recitations  What are the intended learning outcomes?  What are the TA skills needed to further those outcomes  The World as a Lab: Experiments outside bricks & mortar labs  UIUC SmartLabs  Use of cell phones for video-based analysis of observations  New activities beyond standard instructional lab practices  Computational modeling of student experiments  Student lab reports delivered in video format  Evaluation of reports by student peers