Role-plays for preparing physics teaching assistants and learning assistants

Preparing graduate teaching assistants (TAs) and undergraduate learning assistants (LAs) to teach in physics classrooms is a topic of great interest in physics education research. We investigate the use of role-play performances to prepare TAs and LAs to teach students in introductory physics tutorials, labs, and SCALE-UP classes. Each role-play addressed specific pedagogical knowledge and specific disciplinary content. We find that our role-plays helped TAs and LAs to express their ideas about discursive teaching methods and fostered productive discussions about teaching physics.