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What’s Stopping Them? Perspectives of Teaching Assistants on Incorporating Diverse Teaching Methods

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Conference

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Publication Date

June 15, 2014

Start Date

June 15, 2014

End Date

June 18, 2014

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

SD Technical Session: Tricks of the Trade

Tagged Division

Student

Page Count

16

Page Numbers

24.1372.1 - 24.1372.16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--23305

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/23305

Download Count

376

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Paper Authors

biography

Martha E. Grady University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

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Martha E. Grady is a doctoral candidate within the department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a B. S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida and an M.S. degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She intends to finish her doctoral degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in the Spring of 2014. Her research interests include active learning techniques, peer to peer learning, and participation of underrepresented groups in engineering.

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biography

Ryan Christopher Reuer Gergely University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Ryan Gergely is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is pursuing a degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He received his B.S. (2006) and M.S. (2010) in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He plans to finish his studies at UIUC in 2015

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Abstract

Beyond the Lecture: Non-traditional Techniques for Teaching Assistants of Discussion CoursesPAPER ABSTRACTThe benefits of active learning have been demonstrated in recent research. Still, instructors ofcourses particularly in engineering hesitate in adopting such methods. Here, active learningtechniques designed for teaching assistants in courses that are traditionally lecture-based andproblem-based are presented. These ‘tricks of the trade’ are intended to aid teaching assistants inovercoming common barriers to implementing new techniques: limited preparation time andlimited resources. Several non-traditional techniques are selected that require modestpreparation and few resources that instructors can incorporate into the lecture to break up thepace, regain focus, strengthen the amount of information retained, and increase the probability ofrecall. At institutions where a smaller discussion section supplements a large lecture, thereduced class size is ideal for a novice instructor to introduce unfamiliar teaching methods. Theincluded techniques (think pair share, minute papers, pauses, effective questions, and a flippedreview session) are specifically adapted for use in engineering courses and personal examplesfrom the classroom are given.

Grady, M. E., & Gergely, R. C. R. (2014, June), What’s Stopping Them? Perspectives of Teaching Assistants on Incorporating Diverse Teaching Methods Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--23305

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