Chemistry training program gives TAs at Cornell a head start

Cornell graduate students, from left, Elizabeth Quevedo, Nabanita De and Abiola Pollard test an experiment involving the preparation of a galvanic battery cell during the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology's Teaching Assistant Training Program. Nancy Munkenbeck/Cornell

By Lissa Harris

Most of them have never seen a classroom from the other side of the podium. But by the time the first day of classes rolls around, teaching assistants in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology already will have a head start on becoming great teachers -- thanks to a pioneering Cornell program, now a quarter-century old, designed to help new teaching assistants hit the ground running.

The Teaching Assistant Training Program (TATP) was begun in 1979, in part to address chronic student complaints about the poor quality of teaching assistants in the chemistry department. Concerned about the complaints, director of introductory laboratories Stanley Marcus (now retired) obtained a grant from the Exxon Foundation to train incoming graduate students in effective teaching techniques. The resulting program was a resounding success, and it is still going strong.

While other departments hold workshops and training sessions to prepare teaching assistants for the classroom, most last only a few afternoons. The chemistry and chemical biology department's program lasts a full three weeks and gives the incoming class an opportunity, not only to develop effective teaching skills, but also to form friendships and work closely as a team.

Incoming graduate students are not required to take the three-week program, but most do, aided by a $1,000 stipend from the College of Arts and Sciences. This year 31 Cornell graduate students, who have come from universities across the country and around the world to be TAs, participated in the program, which ran from July 14 through Aug. 1.

The graduate students receive training in academic integrity issues, teaching techniques, diversity in the classroom and Web page maintenance. They also try out new labs for general undergraduate chemistry classes.

But the most important item, according to director of undergraduate laboratories and TATP Director James Almy, is the "microteaching" sessions, which give the incoming students a chance to have their teaching videotaped and critiqued in a friendly atmosphere.

"The microteaching is really the heart of the program," said Almy. "One of the most difficult things about being a TA at first is that you're just plain frightened about getting up and talking in front of people." Year after year, he said, incoming graduate students have found that the intensive sessions helped them be more confident and skilled in the classroom.

Safety training, which is required of all students who teach or do research in a chemistry lab, also is on the schedule. Officers from Cornell Environmental Health and Safety spend several days giving the TAs a crash course in dealing with lab fires, toxic spills, powerful lasers, dangerous gases and more. A representative of the Red Cross also visits the program to teach emergency resuscitation.

During the final few days of the program, TAs take to the woods with Cornell Outdoor Education, capping off their three weeks of hard work at the Hoffman Challenge Course. The graduate students -- who have by this time spent many hours helping each other with labs, critiquing each others' teaching skills and just hanging out -- now must work together to solve the outdoor team-building puzzles, both on the ground and high in the trees.

"All of this work sends a signal that we, as a department, we as a university, care about teaching," said Almy. "We want to be the major research university that does the best job of undergraduate education in the country."