Evidence of Success

Growth

LA Certificate Recruitment 2005 through 2008

The LA program has grown throughout the CU Boulder campus and throughout the nation. It was initially developed at CU Boulder in 2003 as an effort to recruit more talented math and science majors into careers in teaching.  Fifty-three (53) students have been recruited to careers in teaching, which represents approximately 12% of the students who serve as LAs. Forty-two (42) of the students recruited to teacher certification programs were Noyce Fellows. This number is very large nationally, especially because the program focuses on departments traditionally under-represented in the Secondary Science Certification program including:

  • MCDB
  • Physics
  • Chemistry and Biochemistry
  • APS
  • Applied Math

Each year, the program impacts over 8,000 undergraduate students at CU Boulder and the number keeps growing. The Figure above shows the number of LAs recruited to teaching careers from each major (through April 2008). Note that 17 physics/astrophysics majors have enrolled in certification programs as LAs.

Success

The first graph shows the learning gains from a traditional lecture and recitations to that of an interactive engagement with Learning Assistants and Tutorials. The subsequent graphs show the impact the Learning Assistant program has had on various content knowledge areas.

Learning Gains with LAs Impact of Learning Assistants on Electricity and Magnetism Content Knowledge Impact of Learning Assistants on Astronomy Content Knowledge Impact of Learning Assistants on Chemistry Content Knowledge