Investigation of chemistry graduate teaching assistants' teacher knowledge and teacher identity

Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic resp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of research in science teaching Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 943 - 967
Main Authors Zotos, Eleni K., Moon, Alena C., Shultz, Ginger V.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2020
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Assistants
Chemistry
Graduate students
Graduate studies
Identity
Interviews
pedagogical content knowledge
science teacher education
teacher beliefs
Teacher Characteristics
Teachers
Teaching assistants
Undergraduate students
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Summary:Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic responsibilities. Although GTAs have substantial instructional facetime with large numbers of undergraduate students, little is known about their conceptions of teaching or their identities as teachers. To investigate the knowledge that GTAs have regarding teaching in this unique context, their teaching identities, and how these developed, we conducted 22 interviews with graduate students from several universities at various levels in their graduate school career using a modified Teacher Beliefs Interview. Interviews were analyzed for two overarching teacher learning constructs: teacher knowledge and teacher identity. We characterized chemistry GTAs' teacher knowledge and identity and determined major influencing factors. We found that chemistry GTAs often identified as a tutor or lab manager, which hindered their self‐investment in developing as teachers. The results presented herein contribute to an understanding of GTAs' teacher knowledge, teacher identity, and their teaching context, from which training can be designed to best support GTA development.
ISSN:0022-4308
1098-2736
DOI:10.1002/tea.21618