Mya Daniels-Abdulahad

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Aarti Raja

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

Emily Schmitt Lavin

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences

It is well established that many undergraduates that intend to earn a STEM degree drop out of their program before graduating. Challenges faced by students in STEM programs that contribute to poor retention include issues with academic and social integration, limited institutional support, and difficulty establishing a sense of belonging.

Through an NSF-funded pedagogical training initiative (NSF# 2142742), we have reformed an existing Biology Graduate Teaching Assistant Training and Professional Development (GTA-TPD) program at NSU to provide specialized training that enables GTAs to engage in intentional, inclusive, evidence-based teaching practices that foster a sense of belonging for students enrolled in introductory undergraduate biology courses.

This presentation will be an overview of our recent implementations to the Biology GTA-TPD program at NSU. We will highlight how GTA-TPD programs can be designed to efficaciously train instructors in pedagogical techniques that maximize student engagement during experiential learning opportunities in the laboratory setting. The intended audience consists of those involved in, or interested in, the development and implementation of pedagogical techniques intended to improve student engagement in courses with a significant practical/experiential learning focus. The techniques presented here are interdisciplinary and translate to non-STEM courses that are similarly structured.

Participants will explore:

1. what constitutes an effective, learner-centered GTA-TPD program

2. ways to implement evidence-based teaching techniques to improve a GTA-TPD program

3. implement assessment tools to gauge effectiveness of a GTA-TPD program