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Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants
written by Chandralekha Singh
The ability to categorize problems is a measure of expertise in a domain. In order to help students learn effectively, instructors and teaching assistants (TAs) should have pedagogical content knowledge. They must be aware of the prior knowledge of students they are teaching, consider the difficulty of the problems from students' perspective and design instruction that builds on what students already know. Here, we discuss the response of graduate students enrolled in a TA training course to categorization tasks in which they were asked to group problems based upon similarity of solution first from their own perspective, and later from the perspective of introductory physics students. Many graduate students performed an expert-like categorization of introductory physics problems. However, when asked to categorize the same problems from the perspective of introductory students, many graduate students expressed dismay, claiming that the task was impossible, pointless and had no relevance to their TA duties. We will discuss how categorization can be a useful tool for scaffolding and improving pedagogical content knowledge of teaching assistants and instructors.
Physics Education Research Conference 2009
Part of the PER Conference Invited Paper series
Ann Arbor, Michigan: July 29-30, 2009
Volume 1179, Pages 59-62
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Teacher Characteristics
= Affect
= Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Education Practices
- Teacher Preparation
= Research
- Graduate/Professional
- Professional Development
- Reference Material
= Article
Intended Users Formats Ratings
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- Professional/Practitioners
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3266754
Access Rights:
Free access and
Available for purchase
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© 2009 American Institute of Physics
A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2009 proceedings is also available.
DOI:
10.1063/1.3266754
NSF Numbers:
0653129
055434
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.40.Ha
Keywords:
PERC 2009, categorization tasks, pedagogical content knowledge, teaching assistant training
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created March 11, 2010 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
January 5, 2011 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
November 11, 2009
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Record Link
AIP Format
C. Singh, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533).
AJP/PRST-PER
C. Singh, Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533>.
APA Format
Singh, C. (2009, July 29-30). Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Retrieved December 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533
Chicago Format
Singh, Chandralekha. "Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 29-30, 2009. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533 (accessed 7 December 2024).
MLA Format
Singh, Chandralekha. "Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants." Physics Education Research Conference 2009. Ann Arbor, Michigan: 2009. 59-62 Vol. 1179 of PER Conference Invited Paper. 7 Dec. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Chandralekha Singh", Title = {Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2009}, Pages = {59-62}, Address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan}, Series = {PER Conference Invited Paper}, Volume = {1179}, Month = {July 29-30}, Year = {2009} }
Refer Export Format

%A Chandralekha Singh %T Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants %S PER Conference Invited Paper %V 1179 %D July 29-30 2009 %P 59-62 %C Ann Arbor, Michigan %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2009 %O July 29-30 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Singh, Chandralekha %D July 29-30 2009 %T Rethinking Tools for Training Teaching Assistants %B Physics Education Research Conference 2009 %C Ann Arbor, Michigan %V 1179 %P 59-62 %S PER Conference Invited Paper %8 July 29-30 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9901&DocID=1533


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