Margreet Docter

Does Practical Work Really Work? A study of the effectiveness of practical work as a teaching and learning method in school science (tandfonline.com)
In this paper, Abrahams & Millar (2008) explain the difference between hands-on work and minds-on work. Hands-on work is doing the activities, without much thinking, and includes what the students actually do, and what the students should do. Minds-on work is a second effectiveness level, which includes what the teachers want the students to actually learn, and what the students do learn.
While the students might focus on the hands-on work, as teacher you want to have the students apply and deepen their knowledge through exercises, discussion and practicals.
Maybe students are only aware of the hands-on work, the TAs certainly have to know about the learning goals, approaches, best supporting strategies. Therefore as teacher, you have to prepare the TAs for their job and transition them from student to TA.

Investigating in the school science laboratory: conceptual and procedural knowledge and their influence on performance: Research Papers in Education: Vol 9, No 2 (tandfonline.com)
This article by Millar [2004] reports on the PACKS model. In this model several steps are described to interpret a task, do observations, formulate a conclusion and evaluate. The required knowledge types are more then (C) executing an acquisition, and also consist of (A) understanding, (B) knowledge, and (D) understanding of evaluation criteria.

In line with the previous paper, as teacher, you need to explain to the TAs what kind of support they can offer:

1. Verifying the student understood what is asked, if not, help by scaffolding: breaking up the problem and focus on the next step
2. Check whether the required knowledge is present, if not: let them look it up, and/or go over together (often a small step is missing)
3. Quick help on technicalities. Transfer the approach to the students, learn the students how to troubleshoot.
4. Instead of checking a yes/no answer, try to ask it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). This allows to evaluate on a grey scale instead of black&white.

Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness (according to self determination theory) for both students and TAs.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. (apa.org)
Ryan and Deci describe the three basic factors anyone needs for psychological wellness, which is very beneficial for the capacity to learn. These factors are elaborated on below.

Autonomy: give a choice.
The main approach here is scaffolding, which means giving a boundaries within one can work. These boundaries can include:

• Content
• Approach
• Time&order

For example, the limitation is that every student/TA needs to be present at an exercise session. What they need to prepare is set, but how and when they prepare is up for their own insight.
A TA should give the student autonomy in solving an exercise, help out in letting the student discover the next step, and not reveal the full paved path to take.

Competence: give them the knowledge, skills and approaches.
Make sure that besides being clear what to do, that the students and TAs have all prerequisites. For example for the TAs to become competent:

• The assignment plus answers a week on beforehand, so they can prepare
• Opportunity to prepare (for a practicum: have a TA room available)
• Best approaches, focussing on supporting students to become less dependent on the TAs. So not only help with content, but also (more generic) trouble shooting approach.

Then the TAs can help fostering competence in students, by for example first questioning what the student already knows, what is does not know, and what it needs to solve an exercise.

Relatedness: this is the sense of connectedness or belonginess. This includes:

• Group work: the TA needs to be trained in how to guide this group process, bring balance in how each person contributes. It also includes creating a productive atmosphere, which focusses on the learning activity, and less on the assessment.
• Relatedness to the topic: the TAs help by bringing in their perspective, like relating to future courses, end projects or internships. This gives the activities more meaning.

Motivation of Young Project Professionals: Their Needs for Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness, and Purpose | Request PDF (researchgate.net)
Lechler (2023) adds a fourth dimension to self determination theory (SDT): Purpose. Even when you offer choice, competence and a sense of belonging, you still need to give students a reason why to engage in learning.
The main external motivating reason is to pass a course, but as teacher you should explain (repeatedly) why your course is in a curriculum. And TAs can help in explaining the purpose, by relating the course to own (later) learning experiences.

Side step: in order to promote students approaching TAs and learn from their experiences, it is good to introduce the TAs at the start of a course in for example a student panel.

Self-Regulated Learning: Theories, Measures, and Outcomes - ScienceDirect 
Zimmerman (2015) reports on self-regulation as self-initiated processes, self-monitoring (metacognition), self-efficacy (intrinsieke motivatie om succesvol doelen te bereiken). Examples of self-regulating processes: settings goals, self-reinforcement, self-recording and self-instruction. One mentioned approach is Self-regulated Strategy Development, where the teachers first provide strategies, and through deliberate practice transfers these approaches to the students.

Home | James Anderson | Speaker Author Mentor
Anderson describes learning agility as the combination of know that you can do, know how to do, and effective practicing:

• Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck beautifully describes how one can have a fixed mindset (begin stuck) or growth mindset (open to changes). A fixed mindset limits people, in less confidence, less possible approaches, less intrinsic motivation. Language can already really help, so TAs should be trained in what language to use best (which leaves open most options)
• Habits of mind: Costa &Kallick described 16 habits of mind, which all contribute to being able to feel challenged and think of the best approach. These include: Persistence, Manage impulsivity, listen to others,  thinking flexibly, metacognition, accuracy & precision, questioning, apply past knowledge, clarity, use all senses, create/ imagine/ innovate, wonderment, responsible risks, humor, interdependently, keep learning.
• Deliberate practice: Ericsson states that exercising without guidance and without evaluation will not lead to improvement. Therefore, TAs should be aware that they not only appraise students for their efforts, they should also ask reflecting questions as whether students would know how to improve (in accuracy, efficiency, applicability to other issues).

Depending on which faculty at teacher you have an access or too few TAs. At Nanobiology we use the TA portal for the administrational side of matching TAs with courses. As teacher you can advertise, as TA you can apply for a position.

What works best for the continuation of any course is to have a TA group with mixed level of experience, such that:

• every year previous experiences can be shared,
• some TAs already know the content from previous year and can help with development / assessment / organization.
• More experienced TAs can help out the less experienced ones

Note: you can ask the students who got the best grades, but these have a few challenges:

• Students with good grades go more often to a minor abroad
• A grades does not say anything about motivation, or skills to transfer knowledge and explain to others.
• People with a passing, but lower grade, most likely faced more challenges, can better relate to all students and help all students with trouble shooting, and overcoming educational hurdles.

So also here: good to have a mix of TAs.

TAs do need instruction. If you get students who have not followed the course before, they might be even unaware of the content. If they are older year’s students they will still (vaguely?) remember the content, but still they do need input on what is expected of them.

So therefore, as teacher, think carefully about conveying info on:

• Time commitment: the course hours plus preparation time
• Preparation: let them do the student assignments before helping out the students
• Expected support: give the TAs answers to the student assignments. Be available for questions, for example via whatsapp. Be in the room say half an hour before, so TAs can also ask their questions.
• Confidence & trust: as teacher you should almost unconditionally support your TA. Treat them as a partner
• A bit of educational approaches:
  • • avoid handing answers,
    • scaffold the next step,
    • ask SMART questions
    • how to promote learning agility/ self-regulated learning (the TA workshop)
• Support own ideas, for example making assignments, trying out directions for a final project

Additionally, act a good manager, so:

• Schedule breaks, offer them drinks during the break (I offer them my campus card for free coffee)
• Organize a meeting on beforehand to share all information, free food is always welcome
• Organize an evaluation afterwards.
• Translate comments from the students (which can be harsh), have an open discussion on how to improve
• Be open minded. Teaching Assistants are still students, with their own schedules, exams, etc.
• Be social, ask them how they are, a friendly ear is often very welcome.
• Ask the TAs to notify you early on if they cannot make it to a session due to illness, own exams, own studies. This can happen, and knowing earlier gives you time to find a solution (if necessary). If it is chronical, do not hesitate to ask for an additional TA.