Improving undergraduate physics instruction and physics teacher preparation through the use of Learning Assistants

Undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) help faculty make changes to their courses by encouraging active engagement. Through their work with students along with a special pedagogy course, LAs establish empathy for their peers as they learn physics, and they help them navigate large amounts of course material and motive students to persist. Through this process, students, their professors, and the LAs become more attuned to research-based strategies for teaching physics and to the complexities of building equitable learning environments that lead to student success. This sets the stage for better prepared physics teachers and for physics majors to find their way to physics teacher certification programs. In addition, the presence of LAs in courses leads to better learning outcomes, decreased failure rates, and improved outcomes for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in physics. The LA program will be described and program outcomes will be discussed. Conjectures about the mechanisms that are effecting change will also be discussed.