Implementation of an investigative science learning environment based laboratory course taught by novice instructors

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] This study investigated the development of four new novice graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and one nontenure track (NTT) faculty member assigned to teach an introductory physics laboratory course based on the investigative science learning environment (ISLE) approach. We describe the training that these instructors received and the progress that they made over their first semester of instruction. We used classroom observations scored using the Danielson Framework and the Reform Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to assess each instructor’s teaching multiple times throughout the semester. All four GTAs demonstrated improvement of various degrees while the NTT did not. Classroom observations and debriefs improved the GTAs’ teaching and were used to tailor weekly training meetings to their needs. Our results suggest that new instructor training should feature specific, tangible teaching actions which new instructors can implement easily in their own classrooms. When these actions directly address issues that instructors have had, as indicated by conversations with the instructors and classroom observations, they were more likely to be adopted and have a noticeable effect on the quality of teaching.

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Figure 1

The ISLE approach to scientific reasoning.

Figure 2

Sample data from the observational experiment obtained by pushing two force sensors together. The two readings are always equal and opposite.

Figure 3

(a) the experimental setup used to test the idea that when two objects exert forces on one another those forces will be equal and opposite and (b) a sample outcome from this experiment that supports this idea.

Figure 4

Observation scores for each instructor broken down by domain.

Figure 5

Comparison of final observation scores of (a) instructors who were observed regularly and (b) instructors who were observed only once.

Figure 6

Overview of classroom practices in which GTAs demonstrated improvement, categorized by the quantitative domains with which they align.