PHYS 398 LA :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

Introduction

PHYS398 LA is a course designed for Learning Assistances who are working in the lab sections of the introductory physics courses. The goal of the course is to support the LAs in their work in the lab sections. We achieve this goal by discussing on one-hand general pedagogical approaches to instructor-student interaction and to design of lab activities, and on the other hand discussing specific challenges of individual labs for which the LAs provide students guidance. For this reason, the course has two components:

  1. A pedagogical component that supports the LAs in their role as guide in the lab sections
  2. A lab component that prepares the LAs for the labs that they will help students with in the lab sections.
In a normal class, about 2/3 of the time is allocated to the pedagogical component and 1/3 to the lab component. The two components are described in more detail below.


Pedagogical component

In the pedagogical component of the course we focus on two topics that both are related to the work that LAs are doing in the lab sections:
  1. How to interact with students in terms of asking questions and listening
  2. How to design lab activities based on learning goals.

We connect the two topics by a semester long project. By the end of the project, the LAs have designed a physics lab activity that draws upon student interviews that the LAs have conducted during the How to interact with students in terms of asking questions and listening part of the course. The LAs spend the second half of the course developing the lab activity.


How to interact with students in terms of asking questions and listening
In the beginning of the course, we discuss how different types of questions impact the instructor-student interaction and how to use students’ comments to facilitate group discussions and help students reach conclusions. We base the class discussions on video clips of instructor-student interactions and group activities in which LAs create their own questions. interactions and group activities in which LAs create their own questions. At the end of this first half of the course, the LAs complete a Physics Interview project in which they first create a protocol for an interview about a Physics topic that will elicit a student’s ideas about the topic and then perform actual interviews. The Physics Interview project three assignments: 1) Interview Protocol; 2) Revised Interview Protocol; and 3) Final Interview Report.


How to design lab activities based on learning goals
In the second part of the course, we introduce LAs to backward design of lessons. Working in pairs on the Lab Design project, the LAs apply this strategy to design a lab activity that facilitates students’ learning of a certain physics skills or content. The design of the lab activity is informed by the Physics Interview project that the LAs completed in the first half of the course. At the end of the Lab Design project, pairs of LAs test and grade each other’s activities. The Lab Activity project has three assignments: 1) Learning Goals; 2) Lab Activity Proposal; and 3) Final Lab Activity Report.

Lab component

In the Lab component of the course, LAs will work through the lab of the week, discuss the purpose of the lab, the different ways that students may solve the lab task and what kind of problems that students may encounter. In this way, the LA students are better prepared to understand where their students are coming from when they ask for help, and hence also the lab component supports the LAs in their job of guiding students through the labs.