78 Enhancing Teaching Assistants’ Ability to Support Student Social Dynamics in Introductory Physics Labs

Faculty Mentor: Jordan Gerton (Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah)

During this summer, I had the opportunity to take part in the behind the scenes training that teaching assistants and learning assistants must undergo in order to be ready to take the lead in introductory physics labs. The amount of time, effort, learning, comprehension, and preparation required to create the assistance that teaching teams could require to be successful in the laboratories was unknown to me prior to this research experience. In particular, when they have to learn how to teach, handle, and comprehend the various social dynamics that they may experience during their time working in the labs with various groups of students (Dobie et al, 2023). This summer, I conducted research to aid teaching assistants (TAs) and learning assistants (LAs) at the University of Utah manage complex social dynamics in Introductory Physics Labs for Life Sciences (IPL2S) courses; as paying close attention to the learning processes, student behavior, and classroom participation may have an influence on the overall classroom environment and the outcomes of learning for both the students and the teaching teams. Scholarly reports have shown that TAs play a critical role in managing group interactions and can facilitate a better understanding of physics concepts by employing strategic prompting and cues (Wilcox, Yang, & Chini, 2016).

This project is the design of the intervention step of the bigger design-based research project (The Design-Based Research Collective, 2003). These case-based scenarios were designed based on periscope recordings of real students receiving lessons in a physics classroom from different institutions around the country. These scenarios will be analyzed by both TAs and LAs in a weekly 1.5-hour team meetings in the lab, to examine and learn aspects such as body language, conversational contributions, power-imbalances in the group, and the levels of engagement with the teaching assistants and learning assistants. After the data analysis is complete, TA’s will implement a 3-week investigation cycle throughout the semester that will emphasize different aspects of the learning process of science courses, specifically physics concepts. The case-based scenarios will be implemented after each cycle and will align with the current science topics they are learning. The reason for this is that TAs and LAs must have time to reflect on the videos that they have watched and assess how they have applied what they have learned in their own life as well as in the laboratories.

The activities will help the teaching teams be more acquainted with the many different social dynamics they will encounter in physics classrooms and will improve the learning experience for students. Faculty and/or TAs/LAs can be trained in their own classrooms using these kinds of teaching activities, which can be adapted and utilized at different institutions. These types of exercises may foster comprehension, enjoyment, learning, and the establishment of judgement-free zones in classrooms with serious settings. These activities will be implemented in the semester of Fall 2025, as a part of a revised curriculum to enhance the professional development of TAs and LAs, to foster more inclusive and effective social dynamics in laboratory learning environments.

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