I worked as a teaching assistant in three courses at Boğaziçi University. Below you can find the brief course descriptions and my role as a teaching assistant.
Science Laboratory Applications Course
This course aimed at designing and application of experiments to overcome misconceptions. Evaluating and assessing students’ scientific process, analytical and communication skills, and their scientific knowledge. For this purpose, pre-service science teachers are expected to design laboratory lessons; experience teaching processes, communication, and analytical skills; teaching scientific conceptualization.
My role in this course was meeting with students once a week for two hours, guide them through their assignments, and help them get prepared for their laboratory activities. I prepared a lab syllabus to explain my expectations and requirements. Please click here to see the lab syllabus. I also prepared a laboratory safety presentation at the beginning of the semester to reveal the safety requirements in the lab as a student and as a teacher. Please click here to see the lab safety presentation. I liked working as a teaching assistant in this course because I had a chance to share my experiences as a middle school science teacher and laboratory practices.
Critical Issues in Science Education Course
Critical issues in science and technology course is aimed at examining related goals in curricula; development of curriculum materials, methods and strategies. The main goals of the course were examining critical issues in science education in terms of the decision-making processes on scientific explanations; analyzing socio-scientific and controversial issues considering the nature of science and scientific practices; developing instructional materials, methods, and strategies; and preparing lesson plans specifically to teach critical science topics.
My role in this course was working with the instructor of the course closely to revise the syllabus and the content of the course materials. The course instructor and I collaborated with another professor at Temple University, Dr. Doug Lombardi while revising the course. I suggested to include three main themes as critical issues in science education, which are evolution, genetically modified organisms, and climate change. The professors agreed with me and we found course materials around these themes and evidence-based explanations of the concepts. After the revision of the course content, we conducted research and submitted the study to a peer-reviewed journal.
School Experience in Teaching Math and Science
School-related experiences and observations, and group work in classrooms: classroom management, unit design, class organization, group work for establishing the fundamentals for teaching practice under the supervision of a mentor; micro-teaching practices.
My role in this course was making the school arrangements for preservice teachers, guiding them for their microteaching and teaching practices, making classroom observations and giving feedback on their teaching practices. I liked working with pre-service teachers during their school practices because I had a chance to share my own experiences.
Below you can find a video of me talking about my experiences at Boğaziçi Univeristy.
Please read more about my higher education teaching experiences at Syracuse University.