ECR DBER DCL: Facilitation Practices of Instructional Assistants

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This project aims to serve the national interest by characterizing the ways in which facilitation practices of instructional assistants contribute to the scientific literacy of students in large enrollment introductory chemistry and physics lectures. In this project, instructional assistants are defined as undergraduate learning assistants and graduate teaching assistants who support student learning during problem solving in interactive lectures. Integrating instructional assistants into introductory gatekeeper courses contributes to increased student achievement and a decrease in failure rates in these courses and can be particularly beneficial for students from marginalized groups. However, not every instructional assistant-student interaction is effective. This foundational research will characterize interactive dynamics that are effective for student learning.The project will use a sociocultural perspective to model four dimensions of instructional assistants’ facilitation practices: the nature of instructional assistant-student interactions, their purposes, in-the-moment learning that occurs, and the integration of the interactions into the whole class. The research will adapt the formative assessment enactment model that was developed to characterize K-12 teaching practices to model instructional assistant-student interactions. Practical epistemology analysis will be used to model students’ in-the-moment learning during interactions. The integration of interactions into the whole class will be characterized using cultural historical activity theory to relate instructional assistant-student interactions and whole class discussions. Multiple strands of data will be collected and qualitatively analyzed, including videos of instructional assistant-student interactions and interviews with professors, instructional assistants, and students. Results from this project will provide a theoretical basis to inform professional development for IAs and further systematic study of their practices. This project is supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.