Characterising learning in a demonstrator community serving first-year chemistry students at a South African university

Wallace, P Karen

Characterising learning in a demonstrator community serving first-year chemistry students at a South African university

Doctoral Thesis

2010

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Chemistry

Faculty

Faculty of Science

Abstract

Teaching assistants (or demonstrators as they are called at South African universities) have become indispensable to the delivery of teaching particularly to first-year students, due mainly to the growing need in tertiary institutions to balance increasing student numbers and needs with pressure on academic staff time and institutional resources. At most universities the role of teaching assistants falls to postgraduate students who are being trained in disciplinary research. In addition to funding their own studies, their participation in teaching activities is increasingly being recognised as preparation for possible careers in tertiary teaching. This study explored learning in a community of demonstrators in the first-year laboratories of a chemistry department at a South African university.

Description

Includes abstract.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-242).

Keywords

Chemistry

Reference:

Collections

PhD / Doctoral

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