Table 4 Characteristics of chemistry GTAs’ instructional practices in each cluster

A (16 sessions)

The responders

GTAs:

initiated the fewest one-on-one interactions (0.10)

spent more time talking to students one-on-one (0.59)

spent less time writing in real time (0.09)

spent more time showing a demo or video (0.05)

provided less verbal feedback (0.04)

provided less follow-up/feedback on activity (0.00)

posed fewer questions to whole class (0.11)

Students:

initiated more one-on-one interactions (0.38)

asked more questions in one-on-one interactions (0.52)

asked fewer questions with whole class listening (0.01)

spent more time performing the lab activity (0.76)

B (21 sessions)

The active lecturer

GTAs:

initiated more one-on-one interactions (0.20)

spent less time talking to students one-on-one (0.46)

spent more time writing in real time (0.12)

spent more time showing a demo or video (0.06)

provided more verbal feedback (0.18)

posed more questions to whole class (0.20)

provided more follow-up/feedback on activity (0.00)

Students:

initiated fewer one-on-one interactions (0.24)

asked fewer questions in one-on-one interactions (0.34)

spent less time performing the lab activity (0.56)

asked more questions with whole class listening (0.05)

C (21 sessions)

The initiators

GTAs:

initiated the most one-on-one interactions (0.32)

spent more time talking to students one-on-one (0.68)

spent less time writing in real time (0.05)

spent less time showing a demo or video (0.03)

provided more verbal feedback (0.08)

Students:

initiated more one-on-one interactions (0.33)

asked more questions in one-on-one interactions (0.49)

asked more questions with whole class listening (0.07)