Since its development in the early 2000's, the Learning Assistant Model for supporting reform in undergraduate STEM education has been implemented in colleges across the nation and the globe. This model consists of adding near-peer learning assistants (LAs) into undergraduate classrooms as part of the instructional staff. Learning assistants take…

The National Science Foundation identified a shortage of STEM professionals in the United States. There is a dire need to promote STEM education to secure high-paying and skilled jobs for the country's residents and the overall healthy economy. This shortage is partly due to students' low retention and persistence to graduate in STEM fields. Due…

"Valuing the Everyday: A Verbal Study in GTA Response to Pre-Designed Curriculum" culminates in a verbal understanding of how four graduate teaching associates at the University of Arizona used and responded to pre-designed courses (PDC) and may suggest ways to structure training or learning management systems (LMS) themselves to better…

Presently, the universities are under exceeding strain of increasing faculty engagement and job satisfaction since due to COVID-19 the faculty is being overwhelmed by having to adapt to new ways of teaching (online, hybrid, flip, etc.) while conducting other activities such as administrative work, service, research, and continuous learning. This…

Within the last decade, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has made a call to action, asking educators to engage in effective teaching of mathematics which includes having classrooms rich in mathematical discourse (NCTM, 2014). In this nine-week dissertation study, three mathematics graduate student instructors (GSIs) teaching…

In this study, I examined the ways in which teachers' facilitation techniques are associated with students' mathematical thinking. The teachers' beliefs and students' perception about mathematics discussions were also examined in order to determine whether or not the connection of the teachers' facilitation techniques with students' thinking were…

The delivery of undergraduate instruction at research universities is highly dependent on graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). The GTA position provides critical instructional support, as well as the pedagogical training and first-hand teaching experiences for future faculty. To date, most research on graduate student instruction pertains to…

A growing body of literature focusing on undergraduate biology education calls for students to engage in the ways of thinking, feeling, and doing that reflect those in which biologists engage. Such reform efforts suggest that learning is best fostered when students engage in practices, concepts, and scientific reasoning as they endeavor to explain…

Responsive teaching is an approach to instruction that foregrounds listening for, attending to and engaging with student disciplinary thinking and ideas in the classroom. This style of teaching differs from how many traditional STEM classes are taught, especially at the college level. Entry-level college science courses that are taught by graduate…

This descriptive-comparative study investigated the impact of different instructional models on a university level Precalculus course on students' achievement. Participant data (N = 14,993) was collected from Fall 2008 to Spring 2019 and categorized into four different instructional models: traditional, modular, emporium v.1, and emporium v.2.…

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to explore improving first semester training practices for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the Spanish program at Arizona State University's (ASU) Tempe Campus. Adding to research on TA training in higher education, a communities of practice (CoP) framework was combined with concrete…

As a young and dynamically evolving discipline, statistics evokes many conceptions about its purpose, the nature of its development, and the tools and mindset needed to engage in statistical work. While much research documents the perceptions of statisticians and experts on these matters, little is known about how the disciplinary perspectives of…

The highly diverse character of US universities provides an opportunity for writing programs to (re)examine the extent to which their current administrative, curricular, and pedagogical practices support a growing student population with unique linguistic, cultural, and educational backgrounds, resources, and needs. This dissertation research…

Chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play a unique but important role in undergraduate STEM education. As leaders of laboratory and discussion sections, GTAs teach fundamental experimental techniques and reinforce course content in classrooms and have more opportunities to interact with students one-on-one or in small groups. GTAs often…

Until recently, second language writers were typically separated from their peers in mainstream composition courses. However, as the field considers the possibility of integrating second language writers into mainstream composition classrooms, important questions arise. For instance, how are teachers of First Year Composition (FYC) prepared for…