And the Adventure Begins...

So now that you know where we went, its time to see what we did there and the fun we had along the way 

Overview of Placement Activities

The picture gives an outline of weekly acitivities performed through out the semester

Everyweek, I would meet with Dr. Brunt in her office in the Science Wing- SW540D. She would give me the TA notes which containd all the necessary information I needed to know regarding each week's procedures. Notes also held information that I was supposed to keep just to myself and it was not to be shared with any student. My job was to thoroughly read the notes and the corresponding pages of the lab manual to familiarize myself with all the steps of the experiements and the theory behind each step. 

Excerpt from the TA notes for week 9 provided by Dr. Brunt during the weekly meetings

I would spend Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons in the lab helping out TAs and students. I would float around in the two labs that would run at the same time and observe students' experimental set ups. If they were making any mistakes I would explain them the procedure and why each step was being done. Students who encountered problems setting up or analyzing data would call me if TAs were busy. I worked in 4 labs each week. Once each week's labs were over I would write a synopsis of each week's activities and submit it to Dr. Brunt during next week's meeting. Synopsis would contain any general mistakes that I observed and a brief overview of each week including which activity was most challenging to students and which were relatively easier and took less time to complete. The length of the synopsis would vary depending on the amount of work that was done during the labs. More work intensive labs resulted in more problems faced by students and thus a longer synopsis. The synopsis also contained possible reasons for the problems/questions faced by students and any solutions if applicable. 

During my placement I also helped prepare a reflection assignment for participation credit which was completed by students during the lab period. The link for reflection exercise is attached for a detailed view. The aim of the reflection exercise was to stimulate thought process of students and help them better understand the bigger picture behind their experiments concerning differential media. Students are mostly in a rush to complete the experimental procedure and obtain the data because they are mostly focusing on marks but they fail to acknowledge the skill set needed for each exercise and the real purpose behind each step which can help them troubleshoot their own mistakes and problems as they encounter them.