Colorado Learning Assistant Program

Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-1

LA Program Overview The Learning Assistant (LA) Model 1 at the University of Colorado at Boulder uses the transformation of large-enrollment science courses as a mechanism for achieving four goals: 1. Course transformation: Improve the education of all STEM students (K 16) 2. Recruitment: Recruit more, and improve the preparation of, future STEM teachers 3. Research: Engage STEM faculty in preparation of teachers and in discipline-based educational research 4. Institutional Change: Transform departmental cultures to value research-based teaching as a legitimate activity for ourselves and for our students. In Figure 1, these four synergistic goals are illustrated, and Undergraduate Course Transformation is highlighted because although it is itself a goal, it also serves as the central mechanism by which the other three goals are achieved within the LA model 2, 3. Figure 1. Synergistic goals of the Colorado LA model The LA Program serves as a Teacher Recruitment Program, therefore students hired to be LAs typically have not already decided to become teachers One of the main purposes of the LA program is to find talented science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) majors who might become interested in teaching as a result of their experiences working as an LA. Therefore, we hire a large number of LAs with the expectation that a fraction of them (typically 12%) will become interested in the complexities of teaching and decide to become K12 teachers. The transformation of large-enrollment courses involves creating environments in which students can interact with one another, engage in collaborative problem solving, and articulate and defend their ideas. To accomplish this, undergraduate LAs are hired to facilitate small group interaction in our large-enrollment courses at the same time they make up the pool from which we recruit new K-12 teachers. The Difference There are several elements that distinguish the Colorado LA program from other programs that use undergraduates as teaching assistants: It is an Experiential Learning Program for the LAs themselves A special seminar targeted at helping LAs integrate content, pedagogy, and practice The focus on teacher recruitment and preparation and the involvement of STEM research faculty in recruitment and preparation of teachers A discipline-based educational research program to evaluate the effects of the LA model Although course transformation is a key element of the of the LA program (and as shown in the following section, the program has significant impact on the learning of enrolled students), the target population of the program is the LAs themselves. The LA program is an experiential learning program; the learning is embodied in the experience of serving as an LA. Second, the 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-2

LA program serves as a K-12 teacher recruitment program. Throughout the LA experience, LAs learn about the complexity of issues associated with public STEM education and their potential roles in generating solutions to these problems. Although only approximately 12% of STEM majors are recruited to K-12 teaching careers, the program is valuable for students moving into careers such as research scientists, college professors, industry, or politics and have opportunities to exercise their roles in improving STEM education more broadly. This is one of the things that makes the program attractive to STEM departments seeking an easy to adapt (and justify) model for program improvement and institutional change. In fact, because of its appeal to STEM research faculty, the LA program has the broader impact of strongly influencing STEM research faculty to become aware of issues in K-12 education, to engage in (or support) course transformation, discipline-based educational research, and teacher recruitment, and to become critical agents in STEM educational change. In addition to these factors, the LA program includes a rigorous Discipline-Based Educational Research program where disciplinary faculty and graduate students evaluate the effects of their course transformations and innovations. Course Transformation and the Role of LAs LAs are paid a modest stipend (currently $1,500/semester) to work approximately 10 hours per week in various aspects of course transformation. Examples of courses that have been transformed using LAs are listed in table 1. Table 1. Courses using Learning Assistants in the 2009-2010 Academic Year # LAs Fall 09 # LAs Spring 10 Total # 09-10 2009-2010 APPM1340 Calculus I with Algebra (semester 1) 4 4 APPM1345 Calculus I with Algebra (semester 2) 3 3 APPM1360 Calculus II 2 2 APPM2350 Calculus III 1 1 APPM3050 MatLab 1 1 APPM3310 Matrix Methods 4 4 8 APPM3570 Probability and Statistics 4 4 APPM4350 Fourier Series and Boundary Value Problems 2 2 APPM4360 Complex Analysis 3 3 APPM4650 Numerical Analysis 4 4 ASEN Aero Space Engineering 2 2 4 ASTR1010 Introductory Astronomy 3 3 6 ASTR1020 General Astronomy Stars and Galaxies 4 4 8 ASTR1110 General Astronomy Solar System 0 ASTR1120 General Astronomy Stars and Galaxies 2 2 CHEM1111 General Chemistry I 13 13 CHEM1131 General Chemistry II 9 9 CHEM1251 General Chemistry New Majors 2 2 CHEM1271 General Chemistry II: Majors 2 2 GEEN1350 Calculus I Workshop-small group problems 4 4 GEEN1360 Calculus II Workshop-small group problems 0 GEOL1030 Introduction to Geology - Laboratory 3 3 GEOL2100 Environmental Geology 3 3 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-3

MATH1300 Analytic Geometry and Calculus I 7 5 12 MATH2300 Calculus II 2 2 MCDB1041 Fundamentals of Human Genetics 3 3 MCDB1111 Biofundamentals 0 MCDB1150 Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology 6 6 MCDB2150 Principles of Genetics 3 3 MCDB2152 Problem Solving for Intro to Molecular Biology 6 6 MCEN Mechanical Engineering 2 2 PHYS1020 Physics of Everyday Life I 2 2 PHYS1110 General Physics I with Calculus 7 7 14 PHYS1120 General Physics II with Calculus 7 7 14 PHYS3220 Quantum Mechanics and Atomic Physics I 0 PHYS3310 Principles of Electricity and Magnetism I 1 1 2 Totals 79 75 154 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-4

What is a Transformed Course? There is no dictated design of what course transformation should look like. Instead, faculty members who are awarded LAs must agree to: use LAs to promote interaction and collaboration among students enrolled in the course meet in weekly planning sessions with the LAs who support their courses attend meetings several times per semester with other faculty participating in the program evaluate transformations and assess learning outcomes in their own courses Because there is little dictation as to what a transformed course should look like, there exist several models of course transformation among our participating departments. For example, one of the models of transformation in the physics department utilizes the University of Washington s Tutorials in Introductory Physics 4 in recitation sections each headed by one graduate TA and one undergraduate LA. The Tutorials involve conceptually-based group problem-solving activities which are physics education research-based and research validated. LAs who work in Tutorial sessions formatively assess student understanding, ask guiding questions, and facilitate collaboration within groups. These tutorial sessions are supplemented by weekly lectures, made interactive through infrared response systems and collaborative peer instruction. A different model for course transformation is used in the Applied Mathematics department. In weekly LA-led problem-solving sessions, each small group of enrolled students uses a 2 x 3 dry-erase board to collaboratively construct problem solutions. In the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences department, one lecture per week is replaced by Learning Team sessions headed by LAs who facilitate collaborative problem solving as students analyze real astronomical data and generate and compare models to fit these data. The LA Experience Although the LA experience is somewhat different for each course, the experience for all LAs involves three related activities: (1) Content: they meet weekly with their faculty instructor to plan for the upcoming week, reflect on the previous week, and analyze assessment data; (2) Practice*: LAs facilitate collaboration among students in learning teams by formatively assessing student understanding and asking guiding questions; (3) Pedagogy: LAs from all departments attend a special Mathematics and Science Education seminar where they reflect on their own teaching and learning and make connections to relevant education literature. 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-5

Figure 2. The LA Experiential Learning Model. The learning is embodied in the experience. *Mathematics and Science faculty who use LAs have the responsibility of ensuring that the students have a meaningful experience that helps them use the information being taught in the Mathematics and Science Education course. For an example of how this is accomplished, see the sections on transformations in the Physics department and in the Chemistry department. The Mathematics and Science Education Course The Mathematics and Science Education seminar is jointly conducted by a faculty member from the School of Education and a K12 teacher. In this course, new LAs reflect on their own teaching practice, reflect on the transformations of the course in which they are working, investigate relevant educational literature, and engage in in-depth discussions about their own teaching and learning. Seminar readings and discussions include topics such as questioning techniques, learning theory, cooperative learning, student epistemologies, metacognition, argumentation, multiple intelligences, the nature of science, national standards, and qualities of an effective teacher. Students in this course try out new ideas each week in their learning teams and report their results in seminar. In many cases, LAs provide guidance to one another regarding managing issues that typically arise in their learning teams. Each week, LAs complete online reflections on their teaching and the learning of the students in their learning teams, as well as on their class readings. In addition, throughout the semester LAs turn in three reflective essays that integrate the education literature with their own teaching and learning experiences. LAs often report that by studying and reflecting on student learning, they have become better learners themselves. At the end of each semester, LAs in the seminar present a poster session attended by their lead instructors, School of Education faculty, University of Colorado administrators, graduate students, and their peers. Each LA or small group of LAs present a poster that focuses on aspects of the LA experience that influenced their thinking both as a learner and as a teacher. Focus on Teacher Recruitment Although the LA experience is valuable for undergraduates who continue to any career, our program is specifically designed to actively recruit talented undergraduate students to careers in teaching. Therefore, a student can continue to be an LA for a second semester only if he or she shows commitment to finding out more about teaching. This may be evidenced by taking an 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-6

education course or participating in an early K-12 field experience. LAs can be hired for a third semester only if they have been accepted to a teacher certification program at which time they are eligible for NSF funded Noyce Teaching Fellowships of up to $15,000 per year 5. As Noyce Teaching Fellows, students can become Lead LAs who mentor novice LAs, participate in the development course educational technology, or work with mathematics, science, and education faculty conducting educational research. Assessing the Effectiveness of the Program Since the inception of the program at CU- Boulder (Fall 2003) through most current data analysis, more than 35 undergraduate STEM courses are using LAs with the participation of over 48 STEM faculty members including 2 Nobel Laureates and several National Academy members. A total 449 individual LAs have been hired (some hired more than once into 696 positions). Figure 3 shows the distribution of majors hired as LAs. The program impacts roughly 9,000 undergraduate STEM students per year and is still growing, including recent efforts to transform upper-division courses 6,7. The LAs are instrumental in initiating and sustaining course transformation by taking active roles in facilitating small-group interaction in large-enrollment courses and in transformed recitation sections. At the same time, the LAs contribute to the pool from which we recruit new K-12 teachers, hence through the LA model, efforts of course transformation are tightly coupled with efforts to recruit and prepare future K-12 science teachers. The LA model has been highly effective in recruiting talented STEM majors to careers in K-12 teaching. The two graphs in Figure 4 compare average enrollments of chemistry and physics majors in teacher certification programs each year before and after the LA program was officially launched in the physics (2003) and chemistry (2006) departments. Our first LAs began graduating from certification programs around 2005 and since then we have more than doubled the number of undergraduate students completing the secondary mathematics and science teacher certification program at CU-Boulder (Figure 5). These results are compared to other certification routes at CU-Boulder: the Masters Plus Certification Program (MA+), and the Post-Baccalaureate Program (PBA), where the numbers of students have not changed. Figure 3. Undergraduate majors serving in LA positions. Figure 4. Enrollments in certification program before and after the LA program began in each department. Figure 5: Teacher certification completion rates before and after LA program. 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-7

Our NSF-funded Learning Assistant Model for Teacher Education in Science and Technology (LA-TEST) research project is designed to study the efficacy of the LA model specifically in terms of LAs development of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and their practice in K-12 schools. Faculty members from STEM and Education, K-12 teachers, graduate students, and Noyce Fellows compose two interacting research teams: the Discipline- Based Educational Research (DBER) team and the K-12 team. These interacting research teams investigate the content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and practice respectively. This project consists of a longitudinal study of former LAs in comparison to other students (and early career teachers) who have graduated from the same major and teacher preparation program but did not receive the LA treatment. DBER Team Results: Figure 6 shows results of learning gains on the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA) 8 for students enrolled in an LAsupported introductory electricity and magnetism course. The average gain is 44%, high compared to the standard 24% gain on similar exams for traditional courses. Further, after only one semester of serving as LAs, LAs scores are more closely aligned with scores of physics graduate students than with their undergraduate peers (Fig. 6); these are the students being recruited to K-12 teaching. Longitudinal effects of the LA program have also been documented 9. Figure 7 shows BEMA scores for students who have just completed an upper division electricity and magnetism course. The left-most bar represents scores of students who were not, as freshmen, enrolled in an LAsupported course. The middle bar shows the scores of students who were enrolled in an LA-supported course as freshmen, and the right-most bar shows the scores of the LAs Figure 6. BEMA gains in electricity and magnetism. Figure 7. Longitudinal results on the BEMA themselves. In addition, participation in the LA community seems to impact students trajectories at the university and beyond. For example, more than half of physics students who graduated honors in 2008 also served as LA sometime in their undergraduate careers. 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-8

K-12 Team Results: The K-12 team has been studying teaching practice by interviewing LA and Non LA (control group) teachers, observing their teaching, collecting classroom artifact packages, and assessing shifts in their students attitudes about mathematics Figure 9. Reformed Teacher Observation Protocol results. and science. Data are in their final stages of analysis in Spring 2010. A sample of the findings of teaching observations is shown in figure 9. There is a significant difference between former LAs and Non LAs in three dimensions on the Reformed Teacher Observation Protocol 10. For more details on the work of the three research teams, please see our reports at http://stem.colorado.edu/la-program/reports-publications Budget At its current rate (hiring approximately 170 LAs each year 85 each semester), the cost of running the LA and relevant aspects of the CU-Teach program is just over $350,000 per year. This includes stipends of $1,500 for 170 LAs each year, costs to run the Mathematics and Science Seminar, costs to administer the program, update website, and maintain a data base of student and former student activity. Summary The LA model integrates the development of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and practice for all participants by beginning the teacher preparation process early in students undergraduate careers and by involving mathematics and science faculty in this process. Although we recruit approximately 12% of the LAs who participate in this program to teacher certification programs, the experience is valuable for students who move on to any career. The participation of mathematics and science research faculty in the active recruitment of teachers has led to departmental cultures that encourage rather than discourage teaching as a legitimate and valuable career option for our most talented mathematics and science students. 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-9

1 V. Otero, S. Pollock, N. Finkenstein (in press). A physics department s role in preparing physics teachers: The Colorado Learning Assistant Model, To be published in the American Journal of Physics. Otero, Finkelstein, McCray, & Pollock (2006). Who is responsible for preparing science teachers? Science, 313(5786), 445-446. 2 Supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant DUE-0302134, DRL-554615 3 Supported in part by the PhysTEC program, American Physical Society #1540955 4 McDermott, L., Shaffer, P., and the Physics Education Group (2002). Tutorials in Introductory Physics. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 5 Supported by the National Science Foundation Grant DUE-0434144, DUE-833258, DUE 934921. 6 Chasteen, S.V., & Pollock, S.J. (2009). A Research-Based Approach to Assessing Student Learning Issues in Upper-Division Electricity & Magnetism, Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, AIP Press, Melville, NY. 7 Goldhaber, S., Pollock, S.J., Dubson, M., Beale, P., & Perkins, K. (2009). Transforming Upper-Division Quantum Mechanics: Learning Goals and Assessment, Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, AIP Press, Melville, NY. 8 Ding L., Chabay R., Sherwood B., & Beichner R. (2006) Evaluating an electricity and magnetism assessment tool: Phys Rev ST Phys Educ Res 2: 010105 9 Pollock, S.J., A longitudinal study of the impact of curriculum on conceptual understanding in E&M, in 2007 Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings, edited by L. McCullough, J. Hsu, and P. Heron (AIP Press, Melville, NY, 2007), pp.160-163. 10 Sawada, D., Piburn, M., Judson, E., Turley, J., Falconer, K., Benford, R. & Bloom, I. (2002). Measuring reform practices in science and mathematics classrooms: The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol. School Science and Mathematics, 102(6), 245-253. 2010 Colorado Learning Assistant Program Overview-10