Faculty and staff were surveyed to assess the professional development (PD) for teaching provided to biology graduate students at academic institutions. Although more than 90% of institutions provided PD, it was most often presemester and less than 10 h. Respondents most satisfied with their PD had programs with greater breadth and institutional support.
This study describes the development and evaluation of
a prep course
for chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). The course was
developed around three major goals: (i) building a community for new
GTAs and socializing them into the department; (ii) modeling teaching
with well-documented, innovative teaching and learning techniques;
and (iii) helping GTAs to understand their roles within the department
and their specific course. The program consisted of a team-taught,
six-week course, which was mandatory for first-year GTAs. It was first
offered in Fall 2009 (46 students), and then taught again in Fall
2010 (33 students). The course covered multiple topics including student–GTA
communication, student assessment, and teaching strategies. End-of-semester
surveys, student evaluations of teaching, and interviews with GTAs
were used to evaluate the course. Overall, feedback from the course
was very positive. GTAs reported that the course benefited them immediately
and even more so after they had taught for several semesters. Student
evaluations of teaching showed that, on average, first-year GTAs that
had completed the prep course in Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 received
significantly higher scores than the previous cohort of new GTAs (who
had not completed a prep course) on measures such as effective teaching,
respecting students, and being prepared.
This study investigated the impact of three commonly used cardiovascular model-assisted activities on student learning and student attitudes and perspectives about science. College students enrolled in a Human Anatomy and Physiology course were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups (organ dissections, virtual dissections, or plastic models). Each group received a 15-min lecture followed by a 45-min activity with one of the treatments. Immediately after the lesson and then 2 mo later, students were tested on anatomy and physiology knowledge and completed an attitude survey. Students who used plastic models achieved significantly higher overall scores on both the initial and followup exams than students who performed organ or virtual dissections. On the initial exam, students in the plastic model and organ dissection treatments scored higher on anatomy questions than students who performed virtual dissections. Students in the plastic model group scored higher than students who performed organ dissections on physiology questions. On the followup exam, when asked anatomy questions, students in the plastic model group scored higher than dissection students and virtual dissection students. On attitude surveys, organ dissections had higher perceived value and were requested for inclusion in curricula twice as often as any other activity. Students who performed organ dissections were more likely than the other treatment groups to agree with the statement that "science is fun," suggesting that organ dissections may promote positive attitudes toward science. The findings of this study provide evidence for the importance of multiple types of hands-on activities in anatomy laboratory courses.
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