Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students

Inquiry-based teaching approaches are increasingly being adopted in biology laboratories. Yet teaching assistants (TAs), often novice teachers, teach the majority of laboratory courses in US research universities. This study analyzed the perspectives of TAs and their students and used classroom obse...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Cara Gormally, Carol Subiño Sullivan, Nadia Szeinbaum
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2016
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d0865832ae584701bc679c7aa20fd0ae
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:d0865832ae584701bc679c7aa20fd0ae
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d0865832ae584701bc679c7aa20fd0ae2021-11-15T15:03:46ZUncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students10.1128/jmbe.v17i2.10381935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/d0865832ae584701bc679c7aa20fd0ae2016-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v17i2.1038https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885Inquiry-based teaching approaches are increasingly being adopted in biology laboratories. Yet teaching assistants (TAs), often novice teachers, teach the majority of laboratory courses in US research universities. This study analyzed the perspectives of TAs and their students and used classroom observations to uncover challenges faced by TAs during their first year of inquiry-based teaching. Our study revealed three insights about barriers to effective inquiry teaching practices: 1) TAs lack sufficient facilitation skills; 2) TAs struggle to share control over learning with students as they reconcile long-standing teaching beliefs with newly learned approaches, consequently undermining their fledgling ability to use inquiry approaches; and 3) student evaluations reinforce teacher-centered behaviors as TAs receive positive feedback conflicting with inquiry approaches. We make recommendations, including changing instructional feedback to focus on learner-centered teaching practices. We urge TA mentors to engage TAs in discussions to uncover teaching beliefs underlying teaching choices and support TAs through targeted feedback and practice.Cara GormallyCarol Subiño SullivanNadia SzeinbaumAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 17, Iss 2, Pp 215-224 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Cara Gormally Carol Subiño Sullivan Nadia Szeinbaum Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
description	Inquiry-based teaching approaches are increasingly being adopted in biology laboratories. Yet teaching assistants (TAs), often novice teachers, teach the majority of laboratory courses in US research universities. This study analyzed the perspectives of TAs and their students and used classroom observations to uncover challenges faced by TAs during their first year of inquiry-based teaching. Our study revealed three insights about barriers to effective inquiry teaching practices: 1) TAs lack sufficient facilitation skills; 2) TAs struggle to share control over learning with students as they reconcile long-standing teaching beliefs with newly learned approaches, consequently undermining their fledgling ability to use inquiry approaches; and 3) student evaluations reinforce teacher-centered behaviors as TAs receive positive feedback conflicting with inquiry approaches. We make recommendations, including changing instructional feedback to focus on learner-centered teaching practices. We urge TA mentors to engage TAs in discussions to uncover teaching beliefs underlying teaching choices and support TAs through targeted feedback and practice.
format	article
author	Cara Gormally Carol Subiño Sullivan Nadia Szeinbaum
author_facet	Cara Gormally Carol Subiño Sullivan Nadia Szeinbaum
author_sort	Cara Gormally
title	Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
title_short	Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
title_full	Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
title_fullStr	Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
title_full_unstemmed	Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students
title_sort	uncovering barriers to teaching assistants (tas) implementing inquiry teaching: inconsistent facilitation techniques, student resistance, and reluctance to share control over learning with students
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/d0865832ae584701bc679c7aa20fd0ae
work_keys_str_mv	AT caragormally uncoveringbarrierstoteachingassistantstasimplementinginquiryteachinginconsistentfacilitationtechniquesstudentresistanceandreluctancetosharecontroloverlearningwithstudents AT carolsubinosullivan uncoveringbarrierstoteachingassistantstasimplementinginquiryteachinginconsistentfacilitationtechniquesstudentresistanceandreluctancetosharecontroloverlearningwithstudents AT nadiaszeinbaum uncoveringbarrierstoteachingassistantstasimplementinginquiryteachinginconsistentfacilitationtechniquesstudentresistanceandreluctancetosharecontroloverlearningwithstudents
_version_	1718428342583033856

Uncovering Barriers to Teaching Assistants (TAs) Implementing Inquiry Teaching: Inconsistent Facilitation Techniques, Student Resistance, and Reluctance to Share Control over Learning with Students

Ejemplares similares