PERC 2020 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Measuring and improving Pedagogical Content Knowledge of student assistants in introductory physics classes |
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| Abstract: | Student assistants (SA), including graduate and undergraduate teaching/learning assistants, are pivotal to non-traditional physics instruction in large classrooms. Despite its effectiveness, little is known about how SAs' Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) affects SA-student interactions and how those interactions promote students' learning. We are particularly interested in SA's PCK of questioning (PCK-Q) skills. In this workshop, we will present a 6-level coding scheme to analyze SA support in different vignettes of SA-student interactions in class videos. The frequency of certain levels in multiple vignettes could suggest a measure of SA's performed PCK-Q. We will also present a written instrument with open-ended questions assessing SAs' narrated PCK-Q in given situations which are drawn from vignettes of authentic SA-student interactions. We will demonstrate the process of developing and validating the coding scheme and written instrument and their use in studying SAs' impact on students' conceptual understanding of physics and critical thinking skills. The workshop will be at 1pm Eastern on Thursday, July 23. The Zoom link to attend is: https://zoom.us/j/92958623299. |
| Abstract Type: | Workshop |
| Session Time: | Parallel Sessions Cluster III |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Jianlan Wang Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409 Phone: 8123258620 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Beth Thacker (Co-presenter) Kyle Wipfli (Co-author, will not attend PERC) Stephanie Hart (Co-author, will not attend PERC) |
Parallel Session Information | |
| Activity Description: | Our workshop will contain three activities. In the first activity, we will play 2-3 video clips carefully selected that represent typical SA-student interactions in an inquiry-oriented introductory physics course, such as students asking a SA about the next step during their exploration. We will first lead a discussion with the participants about SAs' responses or reactions to students and what conclusions can be drawn about those SAs' PCK. Then we will introduce our coding scheme, demonstrate how we code those video clips, and illustrate how we use the codes to analyze SAs' PCK-Q from their practice, which we define as performed PCK-Q. In the second activity, the participants will answer 2-3 sample PCK-Q questions derived from authentic SA-student interactions in the class videos, such as that findings from students' exploration do not match the target knowledge. Then we will present some sample answers to those questions and demonstrate how we use our grading rubric to measure PCK-Q of SAs from their written answers, which we define as narrated PCK-Q. We will guide the participants to use that rubric to analyze their own answer. In the third activity, we will illustrate the process of designing and validating the coding scheme and PCK-Q questions with research data. Meanwhile, we will collect comments to our project and suggestions for future work from the participants. |
