BISC/CHEM 667 (Section 16)  INTRODUCTION TO LABORATORY INSTRUCTION Syllabus - Fall 2002  1 Credit, Pass-Fail

This web-site will be up dated frequently and will become a resource for  graduate teaching assistants in Biology and Chemistry. Please consult it frequently.
 

Instructor:	Hal White
Office: Phone: e-mail:	123 Brown Laboratory 831-2908 halwhite@udel.edu

Course Description: Being a new teaching assistant in an introductory biology or chemistry laboratory of 20 undergraduates requires preparation not only in the subject matter but also in methods of instruction. This course focuses on the latter.  It is not a course devoted to biology or chemistry content. Rather, it focuses on teaching and especially learning. Its main goal is to provide you with the information you need to succeed as a laboratory teaching assistant. Among the topics and issues addressed are:

• learning styles and learning theory,
• personality types of students and teachers,
• biological and chemical hazards and laboratory safety,
• intellectual development in the college years,
• dealing with misconceptions,
• ethics and academic dishonesty,
• asking good questions and constructing good quizzes,
• being fair in grading and in the laboratory,
• problem-based learning and other cooperative learning strategies,
• recognizing problems and resolving conflict,
• time management in and out of the laboratory,
• being a learning facilitator rather than an information dispenser,
• leading managing pre-laboratory discussions,
• library resources for science education.

Who should take this course:
All new Chemistry graduate students who are first-time teaching assistants must take Introduction to Laboratory Instruction starting in the Fall of 2002. All new Biology graduate students who are first-time teaching assistants are strongly recommended to take this course. In preparation for future teaching assistant responsibilities, Chemistry and Biology graduate students who do not pass their English Language Institute skill test also should take this course.

Text:
There is no text for this course. However, there will be many handouts and material you photocopy or print from the Internet. In order to keep these documents organized, you should put them in a three-ring binder.

Background:
Financial support and incentives for offering this course come from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and their four-year Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Grant to the University of Delaware beginning September 2002. The HHMI Undergraduate Program at the University of Delaware is dedicated to "stimulating attitudes of inquiry" in the classroom and in the laboratory, and among students and faculty at all levels. Traditional methods of instruction (e. g. "cookbook laboratories") focus on transmission of information rather than cultivating curiosity and conceptual understanding. One of the goals of this course is to catalyze a shift in the perception of a teacher's role from the being source of all knowledge to being a facilitator of student learning.

Grading and Assignments:
Introduction to Laboratory Instruction is a pass-fail course. The main purpose of the course is to help new teaching assistants succeed. To achieve that, registrants must come prepared and on time to all classes. Excused absence for legitimate reason requires advance notice to the instructor, if possible. Assignments associated with the course will build on the normal and expected preparation for laboratory instruction. All assignments must be completed. All teaching assistants in the course must maintain a teaching portfolio in which they document their efforts with carefully selected items that display their progress and accomplishments. Students who successfully complete this course may eventually apply it toward a graduate teaching certificate being dedveloped through the Center for Teaching Effectiveness.

Chemistry-Biology Synergy:
Much of modern biology is molecular. Thus, knowledge of chemistry is needed to understand much of modern biology. Most students dislike chemistry; however, biology can be used to make chemistry relevant. About 60% of students taking introductory chemistry laboratories have majors in the life sciences.  By mixing teaching assistants from Biology and Chemistry together in one class, each group will learn from the other, gain insight into their own discipline, and enrich their effectiveness as teachers. The course instructor is a biochemist--actually a biologist who was trained in chemistry. He sees the world with an evolutionary perspective, likes genetics, studies proteins, and really digs intermediary metabolism. In his spare time, he moonlights as an entomologist. He is devoted to education and eager to facilitate interdisciplinary communication among students, teaching assistants, and instructors. He once said, "Nothing in chemistry interests me except as it relates to biology; however, I've discovered that there is little in chemistry that doesn't relate to biology."

Groups and Class Conduct:
Each student will be assigned to a heterogeneous group of four or five students. These groups will not change during the semester. Every class period will involve group and whole class discussion with occasional individual presentations. Experienced teaching assistants and other guests will contribute to some classes.

Pedagogical Philosophy:
Over the years, my perception of my role in the class room has changed and now focuses on student learning. First, I believe that substantive learning has an emotional component which I view as involvement.  Consequently, I feel comfortable and justified in moving from a teacher-centered lecture approach to a student-centered, problem-based learning approach where students work in cooperative groups during class time.  To encourage involvement, I look for complex real-world problems with a “hook” that relates to the students and to the concepts I want them to learn.

Second, learning is not easy.  The struggle to understand is important.  It is not my struggle but the students’.  Therefore, I am much less inclined to answer student questions.  Rather, their questions more often elicit other questions from me that can be viewed as handholds on the mountain they have to climb.  With this perspective, I try to encourage independence but provide support when needed.

Thirdly, I view myself as more than a content expert who has to “cover the material.”  I believe it is important for me to evaluate student writing for composition and grammar, although I am not an English professor.  I feel it is important to introduce ethical issues that relate to the material, although I don’t have ready answers.  And I am willing to deal with uncertainties in the dynamics of the groups I create without credentials in social psychology. These are all things I  think will help students become more effective chemists.  By dealing with these issues in chemistry classes, I hope to convey their importance for being a responsible citizen.

Roles and Responsibilities of Teaching Assistants:

To this course

• Attend every class session
• Be prepared for each session
• Participate fully in class activities/exercises/assignments
• Keep a journal of your reflections/experiences as a teaching assistant throughout the semester. This journal won’t be read by anyone but you, but you will need to review it periodically as the basis for class discussions. There are no absolute rules about the nature and/or length of your entries, but you will get a good impression of whether your journal meets the intended purpose during sessions in which you look back over what you have written. A general rule of thumb is to focus most on "critical events"- those experiences as a TA that really captured your attention in some positive or negative way.
• Provide and accept feedback (to and from students/instructors and other TAs) gracefully.
• Participate fully in evaluations of course sessions and of entire course.

General responsibilities in the course in which you are a TA.

• Arrive ahead of time and be prepared for every laboratory session you teach.
• Attend the class lectures that your laboratory serves.
• Work towards improving the thinking and problem-solving skills of the students in your laboratory sections, and on promoting a positive atmosphere for learning.
• Be available to the instructor and students via e-mail.
• Meet once a week (or as often as required) with the instructor or laboratory coordinator to go over the plans for the laboratory sessions, and review successes and disappointments.
• Read the assignments in preparation for each class and planning session.
• Other responsibilities, as negotiated with the instructor of the course and addressed in the assignment due 16 September.