Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine how statistics graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are supported in their roles as educators, how the support can be improved, and the extent to which GTAs are expected to implement the recommendations from the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Educations (GAISE). This multisite qualitative case study describes the support provided at five statistics departments within R1 institutions. Participants included fifty-one GTAs that responded to the survey, of those, five participated in interviews. An additional three faculty members participated in interviews as well. Artifacts were collected from the department websites as well as documents provided by interview participants were utilized in the analysis. Two different analytical approaches were used: in vivo coding was utilized to answer questions pertaining to support and opportunities for growth and a priori codes were used to examine data pertaining to the GAISE recommendations. Of the five cases, two cases use an apprenticeship model, two cases use a formal model, and one reported no GTA training. Opportunities for growth across cases pertained to GTAs’ view of their roles as teachers and additional support related to mentorship and training. Reports of direct exposure to the GAISE College Report were limited, but all GTAs reported being expected to implement at least three of the four recommendations during the lab sections of the course that they led. The study of these cases provides examples of support that could be modified to fit the needs of any statistics department.
Degree Date
Summer 7-31-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Teaching and Learning
Advisor
Annie Wilhelm
Subject Area
Education
Number of Pages
142
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Becker, Rachael N., "Surviving the Lions’ Den: Preparing Statistics Graduate Students for Their Roles as Educators" (2023). Teaching and Learning Theses and Dissertations. 18.
https://scholar.smu.edu/simmons_dtl_etds/18
