Introduction
First-year students pursuing degrees in the natural or physical sciences are required to take a course in General Chemistry along with a laboratory component. With over 1000 students enrolling General Chemistry every quarter, the demand for extra assistance in the laboratory portion of this course is indisputable.
Having an experienced member in the lab working alongside the graduate student teaching assistant may prove to be beneficial to the students by increasing teacher/student ratio and facilitating peer education. It’s possible that utilizing Learning Assistants in the General Chemistry laboratories improves the overall quality of education, so it’s imperative to assess the efficacy of the Learning Assistant Program in terms of educational outcome. Studying the positive or negative effects of the program on
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For example, not every laboratory section has a learning assistant currently, which may call for greater or more novel outreach efforts. Also, based on my interview with Dr. van Koppen, teaching assistants undergo teaching assistant training but the session does not include any priming on how to interact with learning assistants. To reiterate, studies done by Colvin show that “instructors, tutors, and students all need to find a common ground about what it means to be, or use, a tutor in a particular classroom” (“Peer Tutoring” 178). Teaching assistant training could prove to be useful in improving the efficacy of the learning assistants in the laboratory and therefore the success of the program as a whole.
In conclusion, the Learning Assistant Program has already taken steps in the right direction, especially by training the learning assistants in a specific methodology of teaching students in the sciences. However, both positive and negative aspects of the program can be improved upon.
Being a medical assistant is not an easy job; it requires mentally and physically functions. According to the Medical Assisting and Administrative and Clinical Competencies seventh edition, to become a successful medical assistant I have to obtain specific knowledge base, skills, and prove precise behaviors such as professional characteristics. The medical assistant is an intermediary between the doctor and the patient so the ability to think critically, analyze and communication is very important. Furthermore, it explains that the general skills of the medical assistant can be divided in...
2. Cooper, M. M., Cooperative Chemistry Laboratory Manual, McGraw-Hill: New York, NY, 2009, p. 60.
A Training Guide for College Tutors and Peer Educators by Sally Lipsky defines the role and importance of peer tutors’ on college campuses, the importance of promoting active learning, how to incorporate critical thinking and questioning skills, assessing students’ learning, collaborative learning and group work. Furthermore, this book defines tutoring as a proactive process, the value of diversity and students, online assistance, and a summary of effective peer lead sessions. One of the major strengths of this book is the learning activities throughout to assist peer tutors with their tutees. For example, the activity in Chapter 2 (Promoting Active Learning) has what the tutor may potentially hear
" Journal of Chemical Education 49.3 (1972): 174.
Burnham, L. (2008) The Teaching Assistants Handbook: Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools: S/NVQ Level 2. 2nd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Everything from the kinetics of second order decomposition reactions to the electromotive force of the redox reactions in a voltaic cell. I soon discovered my interest to work in a lab setting from this class. I aspire to be part of this program to further my knowledge of the laboratory, including new procedures and
I am writing to you to apply for the position of Instructional Assistant. Due to my past experience and deep devotion I have to help young children, I would be honored to be a part of the Gladstone School District.
The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry by Larry Gonick and Craig Criddle is a non-fiction book that utilizes visual images and cartoons to cover the basics and intricacies of Chemistry. It consists of two-hundred and fifty-six pages and was published by Collins Reference on May 3, 2005. It covers topics such as chemicals reactions, solutions, acid basis, and chemical thermodynamics in unique fashion that makes chemistry fun and easy to learn as well as understand. The book has no consistent build up or story to it. It simply moves from chemistry subject A to chemistry subject B, explaining the various components that make up the subject of chemistry.
Wellnitz during junior year, and this course had a major influence on my selected area of interest. During my high school years at GSMST, I had the chance to work in a lab every single year. I learned the fundamentals on lab safety and equipment in freshman year chemistry. Little by little, I was learning how to use the lab equipment and when to use what type of lab equipment for different lab experiments and scenarios. I was able to spend most of my time in the lab during my AP Chemistry class. At least every two weeks, we had a lab were we could be very hands on and actively learning how chemistry can be applied through experiments. I would always be prepared and ready to collect data and collaborate with my fellow lab partners. For certain types of labs, we were able to design our own experiments so that we could have a chance to think on how acquire certain lab results. I soon began to realize the passion and enjoyment I felt working in a lab when I thought about my science fair project. My science fair group members and I worked long hard hours collecting data all night so that we could prove a simple engineering concept. There were times where we wanted to give up, but the feeling of accomplishment and completion trumped all of that. The thought of success and completing a project in a lab had major influence to my decision in the selected area of
I garnered extensive experience, as a Biology major at Thomas More College, utilizing library resources and mastering the college library’s EBSCOhost databases reviewing scientific materials. Noteworthy, is my two semesters of undergraduate research experience synthesizing Multi-step Sydnone derivatives. My experimental findings were evaluated using academic journals and presented to Chemistry Faculty for thesis defense. Additionally, my Computer Information Systems class adequately prepared me to utilize Microsoft Office software and address computer issues such as; malware, spyware, and virus removal. Moreover, I excelled at using Thomas More College’s Jenzabar- CX/CARS database managing and reporting on prospective student information. These experiences aided in me creating an engaging Martin Luther King Jr. Tribute PowerPoint for The Jewish Hospital community and staff.
Although I entered college without a clear research direction, the Biotechnology Program at Rochester Institute of Technology helped develop my interest in the field of Genetics. I found much of my laboratory training at RIT to be extremely rewarding. For example, one experience that early on convinced me to seriously consider genetics was a project involving the construction and characterization of a recombinant plasmid. Since I worked independently for the most part, the project played a key role in increasing my confidence and helping me to understand various concepts pertaining to genetic analysis. It was this experience that motivated me to seek a position as a teacher' s assistant for a course in Microbial and Viral Genetics. As a TA, I learned how demanding the teaching situation is and how much teaching a course can contribute to my own learning.
Panorama Ridge Secondary School had approximately 1500 students at the beginning of 2014 from which 7-10% of the student population consists of students with exceptionalities. I am one of those students, and over my secondary schooling period I have had the assistance of an EA (Educational Assistant). An EA has many responsibilities both inside and outside the classroom; they not only help with class work, but help students grow into a strong independent individual. This is an essay showing how all the EA’s that have worked with me have helped me reach my goals and accomplishments in the past 12 years of schooling, while helping me plan my future goals. I am hoping that this essay will also show how the EA’s go above and beyond their duties to help the students succeed.
While efficient at teaching concepts, simulated labs don’t provide introductory levels (Corter, 2011). Simulated labs don’t educate students on the beginning skills of preparation in the lab; it assumes that the student has been educated on the basics. As a result, students are unable to understand advanced techniques without the prior knowledge and assistance of the instructor, leaving them confused. Thus, a possible solution to resolve confusion in the student would be “blended learning” where students, “take at least part of a class online while supervised by an adult” (Godsey, 2015). The idea of blending learning can apply to both lab simulation and traditional labs, where a combination of both yields to greater learning success of the student. The combination of both traditional and simulated labs allows the individual to prepare and practice before the lab through lab simulations and be able to obtain hands – on experience through the actual lab itself. Ultimately, lab simulation would serve as an excellent supplementation to traditional labs by reinforcing concepts and ideas through realistic simulations, practice tasks, and problems. These lab simulations enhance traditional learning by being a pre – laboratory exercise and visualization tool. With the combination of both, students learn more because they are encouraged to understand concepts, require less time, and improve their ability to predict possible outcomes of the
Proctor, D. B., & Young, A. P. (2007). Kinn's the Medical Assistant an Applied Learning Approach (Tenth Ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Saunders Elsevier.