The relationship between subject matter knowledge and teaching effectiveness of undergraduate chemistry peer facilitators

Abstract

Use of peer instruction and facilitation has surged in undergraduate education at large colleges and universities in recent years. Studies on peer instruction have been directed primarily at student learning gains and affective outcomes among the facilitators. For peer instructors, the relationship between their teaching effectiveness and their foundational content knowledge is assumed but understudied. In an effort to promote instructional coherence (i.e., instructional same-pageness) in the introductory organic chemistry program at the University of Michigan, we observed peer-led study group facilitators’ involvement in their study groups (as teachers of groups of 6–12 students) and in a companion course (as learners) designed to reinforce and enhance their content knowledge. Audiovisual recordings of the facilitators in both the companion course and, for ten of them, leading their study groups, were captured over each of the two week periods covering the topics of stereochemistry and also conformational analysis. Recordings were subsequently coded for topic and correctness in presentation of subject matter. Errors made in either study group or the companion course were investigated for error resolution (corrected or uncorrected), source of error, and propagation of corrected errors. Analysis of recordings revealed that facilitators who have their own errors corrected in the companion course, or observe their peers’ errors corrected in the companion course, correctly describe these concepts in study groups. On examining errors made by facilitators when they are leading study group sessions, a backwards analysis showed consistently that either the topics had not been addressed in the antecedent companion course, or the facilitator was not actively engaged with the discussion when the topics were being discussed. These findings have implications to inform not only our own implementation of peer-led study groups, but also those interested in designing subject matter companion courses for peer leaders in other instructional settings.

What Do We Know about Teachers’ Knowledge? Assessing Primary Science Teachers’ Content Knowledge in the Jewish and Arab Sectors

“…Most studies world-wide on teachers' knowledge focus on PCK. This is one of the few international studies to measure STs' CK directly (e.g., Boothe et al, 2018;Kind, 2014;Rice, 2005;Sadler et al, 2013). CK measurements have been conducted primarily in PD programs for teacher professionalization, due both to the need of evaluating these programs and the availability of the teachers involved.…”

“…Studies have supported this idea: of all factors that influence classroom learning processes, teachers are the most important. Moreover, low levels of teacher knowledge lead to low levels of knowledge among their students (Boothe, Barnard, Peterson, & Coppola, 2018;Campbell et al, 2014;Demirdogen, Hanuscin, Uzuntiryaki-Kondakci, & Koseglu, 2016).…”

“…Numerous studies have focused on PCK; their aim has been to understand the kinds of knowledge needed for teaching (e.g., Jüttner, Boone, Park, & Neuhaus, 2013;McConnell, Parker, & Eberhardt, 2013;Scheiner, Montes, Godino, Carrillo, & Pino-Fan, 2019). In contrast to PCK, few studies have explored CK and changes in teachers' CK experienced over the years (Boothe et al, 2018;Rice, 2005;van Driel, Berry, & Meirink, 2014). Our research is based on the consensus that there are connections and even overlap between CK and PCK, but in the field of science education it is important to measure them as separate knowledge domains (Großschedl, Welter, & Harms, 2019;Jüttner et al, 2013).…”

Metacognitive scaffolding for preservice teachers’ self-regulated design of higher order thinking tasks

“…Even though PCK is crucial for attainment of ‘expert teacher’ status, PSTs develop PCK only tenuously [ 33 ]. However, assessment of PCK in teacher education courses have been able to detect changes in PCK growth [ 33 , 34 ]. Certain studies have examined PCK development in science PSTs (e.g., Ref.…”

Beliefs versus resources: a tale of two models of epistemology

“…It goes without saying that chemistry instructors at the undergraduate level have a great deal of knowledge about chemistry. The content they teach is rich and complex and requires nuanced understandings of an incredible array of concepts and phenomena (Boothe et al, 2018;Zotos et al, 2021). However, in addition to this knowledge of chemistry, instructors also have a great deal of knowledge and beliefs -albeit potentially tacitabout teaching and learning (Hora, 2014;Gibbons et al, 2018;Popova et al, 2020).…”