Do Teaching Assistants Know How to Teach? How Teaching Self-Efficacy Affects How TAs Teaching
At research institutions, teaching assistants (TAs) teach 91% of introductory laboratory courses (Sundberg et al., 2005). Thus, TAs have an impact on student learning of experimental design and analysis (EDA) within the first year of school which could have lasting effects. Student knowledge is affected by TA teaching practice which is affected by TA knowledge and teaching self-efficacy (Reeves et al, 2016). However, the relationship between these variables is under investigated (Reeves et al, 2016). Research Questions: How does TA self-efficacy in teaching experimental design and analysis (EDA-SE) and content knowledge (CK) of EDA affect student-centeredness of teaching? How does TA EDA-SE, CK, and student-centeredness of teaching affect students’ gain in CK? Research Design: Participants were TAs and students in a required first semester laboratory course at an R1 university. The first six weeks teaches basic laboratory skills including EDA. Students took an assessment of EDA CK (BioVEDA, Hicks et al, 2020) at the beginning and end of this time period. TAs also took BioVEDA, and a survey on EDA-SE (5 items, 4-point Likert scale). TA lessons were audio-recorded twice. Student-centeredness of teaching was assessed using RTOP by two independent coders (ICC=.75) Analyses and Interpretation: Means were assessed, and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. While TAs had high EDA CK (M=77%, SD=15), many were not confident in teaching EDA (M=2.9, SD=.6). The average mode of teaching was lecture with minor student involvement (MRTOP= 42, SD=16). The first regression assessed TA CK and EDA-SE on RTOP. TA EDA-SE is negatively related to RTOP (Beta=-.28, p=.01) in the presence of TA CK (NS) (F(2, 73)=3.9, p=.02, Radj2=.07), suggesting that the more confident a TA is in their teaching, the less likely they are to employ student-centered teaching. To explore which variables were related to students’ CK gain, a second regression examined TA-CK, TA EDA-SE, and RTOP on student CK Ngain. TA RTOP was the only significant variable (Beta =.4, p<.001; F(3, 72)=5.1, p<.01, Radj2=.14). We are in the process of investigating other contributing variables. Contribution: The results suggest that student CK gain is correlated with the student-centeredness of TA teaching which is negatively correlated with TA EDA-SE, perhaps because TAs have inflated EDA-SE. Thus, PD designers should consider incorporating strategies to have TAs evaluate their teaching.