TAing in the Sciences

Labs

Teaching assistants in the sciences often assist with lab sessions. Lab sessions (or "labs") are designed to teach students basic laboratory skills, such as the safe use of equipment, critical thinking skills and problem solving, and scientific analysis. Labs also help students to link the theory taught in lecture with its practical applications. TAs may be responsible for teaching or running a lab, maintaining safe conditions during sessions, or grading lab reports, to name a few duties.

Teaching in the Lab

TAs commonly teach undergraduates how to use lab equipment and assist students with experiments. TAs must be thoroughly prepared for labs and be able to articulate a) the experimental technique, b) the scientific principle demonstrated by the experiment, and c) the experiment's relevance to the course. TAs may wish to perform the experiment themselves ahead of time to troubleshoot any potential problems and to develop clearer instructions for their students.

Most science departments will use a laboratory manual in their courses. TAs should read the manual and ensure that they understand each experiment ahead of running the lab. Should the laboratory instructor inform the TA that written procedure for the experiment has changed, the TA should ensure that they have read through the changes and are prepared to guide students through the modified experiment.

During lab, TAs should circulate among the students to observe their techniques, answer questions, and offer advice and troubleshooting. TAs may be responsible for collecting and grading lab-related assignments. Some lab instructors will hold weekly TA meetings to prepare TAs to teach labs.

Safety in the Lab

All TAs who will assist with labs are required to attend an annual safety training offered by the Environmental Health and Safety Officer. 

During the first lab session, the TA should familiarize students with good laboratory safety practices. 

TAs should themselves be well-versed in the safety protocol for each experiment. TAs are responsible for identifying safety hazards: incorrect lab setups, smoke, cracked glass, exposed wires, spilled water, etc.

In case of a laboratory emergency, the TA must immediately notify a laboratory instructor and contact the office of Environmental Health and Safety: https://www. brynmawr.edu/inside/offices-services/environmental-health-safety

Office Hours

TAs should confer with their course or laboratory instructor about the number of office hours they are expected to hold each week. TAs should protect their time by avoiding taking on more office hours than are required.

When scheduling office hours, TAs should consider the general availability of the section's students. It may be helpful to circulate a survey at the start of the semester.

During office hours, TAs should be prepared to help students solve problems without directly giving them answers.

Grading Labs

Course or laboratory instructors will typically provide grading guidelines. TAs may be allowed to adjust grading guidelines to reflect any possible modifications to the experiment.

To ensure grading consistency, laboratory reports should be graded section by section. The points subtracted for mistakes should always be clearly written along with a few words describing the error. TAs should check with the laboratory instructor for how to penalize the repetitive error.

TAs cannot give students extensions without asking for permission from the laboratory instructor. TAs should give students concrete and prompt feedback, within one week if possible.

Recitations

Recitations, or meetings in which students review information from the previous or current week’s lectures, are common in science courses. The following are important steps for TAs to run a successful recitation:

• Establish a conversational and participatory atmosphere. Student participation is an integral part of recitations. Communicate that students should expect to recall information, discuss concepts as a group, and ask questions. Prepare questions that encourage students to participate.
• Take attendance, if required, and be aware of who is (and who is not) attending. Your course instructor may require you to keep track of attendance, but even if that is not required, you should notify the instructor if a student is repeatedly missing recitation.
• Make review sessions as lively as possible and encourage students to ask questions. Incorporate learning activities and small group discussions to avoid monotony.
• Involve the students in the problem-solving process. Guide students toward the answer but do not do the work for them.

Lecturing

Occasionally, TAs may be asked to prepare a lecture for class to gain experience. More commonly, TAs may give mini lectures in their recitation sections, either to present new material or to reiterate information from the main lecture. Lecturing should be balanced with discussion: TAs should rarely spend the entire recitation lecturing but should instead use lecturing to deepen students’ understanding of the material presented in the main class before transitioning to discussion. The following are reasons that a TA may prepare a mini lecture for their recitation session:

• If the print material on a topic is out of date or if various sources of information are available on a subject
• If the TA is presenting their own ideas or a sample method of approaching a topic
• If the topic is basically factual and there is little need for discussion
• If the material has little connection with other lectures and discussion

When lecturing, TAs should keep in mind that students can only process a limited amount of information or material in the time given. Overloading students can be counterproductive, so TAs should begin with a main point or group of points that they want students to take away from recitation and work backwards to create their lecture plan.

Keeping Students’ Attention During Lecture

Students generally don’t participate during a lecture, so it is important to keep their engagement as much as possible. All TAs should prepare lecture notes that plot their course through the material, and less experienced TAs should err on the side of more detail and planning in their lecture notes until they feel confident speaking from bullet points.

The opening of a lecture is particularly important to engaging students’ attention, setting the tone and introducing key points or frameworks for the rest of the lecture and discussion. TAs should consider different ways to engage students, such as asking leading questions, beginning with a relevant audio-visual reference, or running a brief in-class exercise.

Studies have shown that students’ attentiveness to lectures begins to diminish after the first 10 minutes, so TAs are well advised to make the most of this initial period. But TAs also need to keep students’ attention after the first ten minutes are up. The following are suggestions for keeping students’ attention in class:

• Signpost transitions and how they relate to the lecture.
• Define terms and don’t be afraid to repeat definitions.
• Ask rhetorical questions.
• Give examples.
• Avoid using a monotone.
• Use props and visual aids.

TAs should leave enough time at the end of the period to summarize their lecture and conclude. If time runs short, TAs should omit a final example in order to recap what has been covered in full.

Tips for Making a Lecture Plan

Selecting the topic and scope of the lecture:

• • The course instructor may specify which topics should be reviewed in recitation, or the TA may have the freedom to focus on topics from lecture that they believe students should review
  • The TA should set concrete learning goals for the recitation session and avoid being overly ambitious about how much they can cover.
  • TAs should have contingency plans in case they get through material faster than expected.

Organizing material and incorporating rhetorical strategies:

• TAs should focus students’ attention at the beginning of the lecture. The following are some options for doing so:
  • Present a set of incongruous facts.
  • Pose a complex question.
  • Tell an anecdote that illustrates the material.
  • Link the topic to common knowledge.
  • Illustrate the problem through props (using the blackboard, handouts, a newspaper clipping) or your actions.
• Effective lecturing requires clear transitions between ideas. Emphasize moments where the lecture shows cause and effect, pros and cons, concept and application, etc. Use differences in pitch, pace, or intensity of delivery to emphasize transitions.
• TAs can help students to take notes by building in pauses and repeating key ideas.
• The lecture should be easily mappable, with clear relationships between its ideas. Relate the recitation lecture to recent class lectures. Select useful examples and anecdotes. Review larger concepts before discussing particulars.