The Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy prepares LAs for their work in STEM classes. CPED 6100W, Pedagogy for Learning Assistants, is a 2-credit, writing intensive, graduate-level course that provides Undergraduate Learning Assistants with support, perspectives, and techniques necessary for fostering productive peer interactions in their field placements. In the course, new LAs will:
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- Analyze their teaching methods and improve upon them;
- Learn techniques to promote collaborative thinking;
- Discuss ideas and share experiences with other LAs in the class.
The Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy is also home to the licensure program for future math and science teachers.
LA Course Topics and Readings
The course topics, readings, and activities are adjusted each semester based on course evaluations and conversations with LAs and faculty. Below are sample course topics and readings.
- Course Design
- Goals for Productive Discussions and Nine Talk Moves (TERC, 2011)
- Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
- Turpen, C., & Finkelstein, N. D. (2010). The construction of different classroom norms during Peer Instruction: Students perceive differences. Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research, 6(2), 020123.
- Equitable Participation
- Cohen, E. G., & Lotan, R. A. (2014). Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom Third Edition. Teachers College Press.
- Chizhik, A. W. (2001). Equity and status in group collaboration: Learning through explanations depends on task characteristics. Social Psychology of Education, 5(2), 179-200.
- Ryu, M., & Sikorski, T. R. Tracking a learner's verbal participation in science over time: Analysis of talk features within a social context. Science Education.
- Questioning Patterns
- Herbal-Eisenmann, B. A., & Breyfogle, M. L. (2005). Questioning Our Patterns of Questioning. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 10(9), 484-489.
- Pak, A., Mangini, M., Green, C., & Sikorski, T. (2018). Talk moves, argumentation, and questioning patterns in LA-supported group problem solving. Proceedings of the Physics Education Research Conference 2018, Washington, DC.
- Metacognition
- Schoenfeld, A. H. (1987). What’s all the fuss about metacognition. Cognitive science and mathematics education, 189, 215.
- Epistemology
- Lising, L., & Elby, A. (2005). The impact of epistemology on learning: A case study from introductory physics. American Journal of Physics, 73(4), 372-382.
- Grove, N. P., & Bretz, S. L. (2010). Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Epistemological Development as a framework for describing student difficulties in learning organic chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 11(3), 207-211.
- Language
- Feynman, R. P. (1969). What is science. The Physics Teacher, 7(6), 313-320.
- Ideas, Reasoning, and Problem Solving (a few of LAs' favorites)
- Astronomy
- Bryce, T. G. K., & Blown, E. J. (2012). The novice-expert continuum in astronomy knowledge. International journal of science education, 34(4), 545-587.
- Coble, K., Camarillo, C. T., Trouille, L. E., Bailey, J. M., Cochran, G. L., Nickerson, M. D., & Cominsky, L. R. (2013). Investigating student ideas about cosmology I: Distances and structure. Astronomy Education Review, 12(1).
- Biology
- Nehm, R. H. (2010). Understanding undergraduates’ problem-solving processes. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education: JMBE, 11(2), 119.
- Tomanek, D., & Montplaisir, L. (2004). Students' studying and approaches to learning in introductory biology. Cell Biology Education, 3(4), 253-262.
- Coley, J. D., & Tanner, K. (2015). Relations between intuitive biological thinking and biological misconceptions in biology majors and nonmajors. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 14(1), ar8.
- Chemistry
- McClary, L., & Talanquer, V. (2011). Heuristic reasoning in chemistry: Making decisions about acid strength. International Journal of Science Education, 33(10), 1433-1454.
- Christian, K., & Talanquer, V. (2012). Modes of reasoning in self-initiated study groups in chemistry. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 13(3), 286-295.
- Physics
- Redish, E. F. (1994). Implications of cognitive studies for teaching physics. American Journal of Physics, 62(9), 796-803.
- Guisasola, J., Almudi, J. M., & Zubimendi, J. L. (2004). Difficulties in learning the introductory magnetic field theory in the first years of university. Science Education, 88(3), 443-464.
- Ortiz, L. G., Heron, P. R., & Shaffer, P. S. (2005). Student understanding of static equilibrium: Predicting and accounting for balancing. American Journal of Physics, 73(6), 545-553.
- Astronomy
LA Course Projects
Each semester, new LAs enrolled in CPED6100W: Pedagogy for Learning Assistants complete a project that (1) demonstrates what they have learned in their first semester as an LA, (2) pushes them to learn even more about STEM education, and (3) contributes to the growth of the LA program. In some semesters, all LAs work together on one overarching project (e.g., creating the LA website, the LA Handbook, and the Field Notebook). In other semesters, LAs are invited to submit a proposal for a project. We also field project requests from students, faculty, and LAs. The projects are integrated into the flow of the pedagogy course, and all projects are presented at an end-of-the-semester celebration attended by GW faculty, staff, students, family, and visitors from LA programs at neighboring universities. Examples of LA course projects are embedded throughout this website, such as the video on our Welcome page, in our blog posts, and even the website itself! Summaries of projects each semester are provided below.
The titles of the projects our students have been working on are:
- The Yeet Sheet
- LA Survival Guide
- Surviving Scale-Up
- Participation Matters
- Optimizing the LA Website
- Guidance for New LA's
- LA Expert
- GW LA Program Podcast
- AP Practice Questions to Help Students in STEM Classes
- The Effectiveness of "Lecture-Based Worksheets"
- Visual Demonstration of the Focusing Questioning Pattern
- Teacher Inquiry in Questioning Patterns and Encouraging Risk-Taking Behaviors in Secondary Science Classrooms
- Exploring LAs in Math Classes
Fall 2017 Modified Talk Moves
The Nine Talk Moves (TERC, 2012) are an indispensable resource for LAs. The Nine Talk Moves provide specific conversational moves, organized by goal, that LAs can use to facilitate discussion. In past semesters, we observed GW LAs adapting these Talk Moves to fit the specific context of the class they support. So, this semester, we decided to formalize that process by asking LAs to create class- or discipline-specific versions of the Nine Talk Moves. Teams of 3-6 LAs created Talk Moves for the following courses: Introductory Biology, Introductory Chemistry, Scale-Up Physics, Organic Chemistry, and one version for all upper level science courses. To learn more about how LAs modified the Talk Moves, check out the video below. We thank TERC for permission to modify the Talk Moves for this project.
Spring 2018 Improving Review Sessions
The LA program began as a way to help foster learning in the classroom through equitable participation in groups, and developing problem-solving skills. However, over time, we have seen more and more LAs holding office hours and review sessions outside the classroom as additional support for student learning. This semester a group of LAs explored the functions of LA review sessions and their influence on student learning. These LAs compiled a checklist of best practices when it comes to hosting review sessions including reviewing the material before, preparing practice problems, and promoting small group work.
For this project, LAs created a compilation of their best field notes to use as examples for training future LAs. All LAs completed CITI training prior to starting this project. Creating the handbook took many hours of observation, writing, and peer critique. The LAs read parts of Field Notes on Science and Nature by Michael B. Canfield to learn how field notes are used in scientific practice. Each week, the LAs were asked to collect field notes related to a specific topic or question related to what they were studying in CPED6100W (i.e. Talk Moves, Questioning Patterns, etc.). LAs brought their field notes to class. We discussed the field notes together, engaged in peer critqiue, and then revised all of our field notes. At the end of semester, LAs selected their very best field notes to publish using Canva.
Fall 2016 Department Field Notes
In addition to facilitating groupwork, LAs collect valuable information about student thinking and reasoning that they can share with their host instructors. In this project, LAs collected detailed observation notes from classrooms over an entire semester, looking for evidence of how students participated in group work, their problem-solving processes, and conceptual reasoning. LAs summarized the results of their observations, developed suggestions for the instructor based on those observations, and presented their results to faculty of GW Discipline-Based Education Research Group.
Spring 2016 Educative Materials
This project was designed to address a problem that LAs had identified, namely, that students do not value group work and do not understand its purpose in science learning. Working in teams, LAs created materials (website page, handout, video, posters) to inform students about the uses and potential pitfalls of group work for science learning, and what they can do as students to maximize the benefits of group work for their own learning. While designing materials, LAs did research to anticipate students' ideas about group work.
Fall 2015 Video Tutorials for LA and Faculty Training
The Spring 2015 LA Film Festival was so popular that we decided to bring it back again! This time, the LAs created video tutorials to help educate students and faculty about why peer interaction in the classroom is important. One group of LAs also made a magazine-style quiz to help students understand their own views about group work.
Spring 2015 LA Program Film Festival
The Film Festival enjoyed, by far, the highest audience attendance of any LA Project. In this project, LAs worked in teams to create short videos about the LA program for various audiences (faculty, potential LAs, admissions staff, etc.). We reserved the auditorium in the School of Media and Public Affairs for a special screening that was open to the public. Each team introduced their video, before the screening. The landing page of our website features one of the videos.
Spring 2014 LA Program Handbook
Inspired by the Colorado-Boulder LA Program Handbook, the second cohort of LAs wrote their own Handbook. The handbook addressed some pedagogical ideas from the LA training course (e.g., metacognition), and also pragmatic topics of concern to LAs (e.g., the difference between a TA and LA). The cover was also student-designed. We ordered professionally printed copies of the handbook for each LA. But, a lot has changed since the first printing of the handbook, and it's due for an update soon!
Fall 2013 Poster Symposium
The first LA project was the GW LA Program Poster Symposium. Each LA created a poster using Powerpoint, in the style of a professional research poster. Each poster contained assessment data, and a topic, question, challenge, idea, or technique that ties together the LAs' experiences in the program. The posters were printed and displayed in Monroe Hall to an audience of GW faculty and students.