Discussion vs. Lab TAing

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

What are your takes on either? Which one do you prefer?

[aberrant]

I have no experience in TA'ing a lab, but I prefer discussion better.

I guess I'm just afraid to deal with students who have absolutely no idea why they are in the lab or what they are supposed to do in the lab etc.. Those are more likely potentially create a hazardous (in terms of lab safety) environment to the other good students. I know that I'll be the one who is responsible for cleaning up / fixing any possible mess if I'm a lab TA - hence I'm not interested. (besides, I can never wear flip-flops if I'm TA'ing a lab.)

[comp12]

You wear flip tops to discussion?

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

I was thinking that, but damn, the pay for lab TA is slightly higher!

[aberrant]

You wear flip tops to discussion?

Oh yea. I wear flip flops to discussion and (research) lab. Unlike TA's from art / "professional" programs, It's not necessary for us to dress formally for discussion. (I have never seen a TA in natural / physical science dress formally - either casual or nerdy. lol.)

[Arcadian]

I guess I'm just afraid to deal with students who have absolutely no idea why they are in the lab or what they are supposed to do in the lab etc..

From the perspective of a student, you should make it clear what they are supposed to be doing. If there is any confusion about what to do, that's probably the TA's fault. You can't expect students to just walk in and know exactly what to do. That's kind of why you're there...to instruct and guide the students.

[aberrant]

From the perspective of a student, you should make it clear what they are supposed to be doing. If there is any confusion about what to do, that's probably the TA's fault. You can't expect students to just walk in and know exactly what to do. That's kind of why you're there...to instruct and guide the students.

From the logic of a student and TA, students who rely on TA and/or teachers to spoon-feed everything to them will not succeed in my alma mater. Students are responsible to be prepared before walking into a class -- whether it is a lecture or a lab. As for a lab, students have access to lab manual and referenced publications that they should have read before they conduct any experiments. As a result, if there are any confusion about what to do, it is only the TA's fault iff a student asked for clarification and the TA failed to do so.

Students that I know are generally pretty self-disciplined and we have zero problem about what to do in the lab. Knowing WHAT to do is one thing, knowing WHY one is doing it is another.

Maybe the difference in our background creates such a deviated point of view, but when it comes to a lab environment with multiple potential/de facto hazardous materials, there are zero tolerance of ignorance related to lab safety.

Like this professor said, "The TAs are there to make sure nobody is doing something stupid."

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

At my UG school many people were extremely lost in some of the chemistry labs.

[Chande]

I've enjoyed being a lab TA so far. The majority of my students have come very well prepared (I can and do deduct points from their grade if they don't) and I give a brief lecture before every lab to explain what we're doing and why, demonstrate any techniques that might be completely new to them, and answer their questions.

I've never taught discussion before, but I would like to try it sometime if only to see if I like it.

[TakeruK]

I've only been a lab TA so far (one "real" physics lab and one computational physics, i.e. programming, lab). My concern about a discussion TA is that what if students don't show up, or don't want to participate in the discussion! I've attended many workshops, taught discussion-style classes outside of academia, and practiced different techniques before, but I still haven't done it for the "real thing" (i.e. university level physics discussion/tutorial). In Physics, I'm afraid that the session will end up with just me showing the students how to solve various problems on the board. If I were to teach one in the future, I'd like to try to break them into small groups and watch (and advise where necessary) them try to solve their homework problems, but I don't know how easy it will be to set that up!

For lab TAing, I really enjoy it because I get to interact with the students in small groups (or one-on-one) and I can really get them to think about what they're doing! I try to never directly answer questions (unless it's just a point of clarification); when something doesn't work, I try to ask them questions to lead them to the right answer. This is easier in a lab setting because if I walk up to a bench where an oscilloscope is being wonky, I'd have no clue what the problem is either. We can then troubleshoot the problem together, and there no temptation to just give them the right answer (because I don't know it!).

Lab TAing is also easier to teach in the style that I like because the nature of lab equipment forces students to cooperate in small groups. In addition, since they can only complete the lab activities during lab times, and they are graded (generally discussions/tutorials are not graded), the students have to show up and be prepared so that they can finish in the time limit. But even though lab TAing is easier, I'd like to try discussion group TAing in the future!

Just my thoughts. By the way, at all the schools I've been to, TAs across campus are all paid the same amount, no matter what discipline or activity they're doing.

Edited October 7, 2012 by TakeruK