In many departments with large or challenging classes, the graduate students become the extensions of professors. But if it's hard for timid freshman to ask a professor a question, is it much easier to ask a towering Ph.D. candidate?
Certain departments may make it easier, however, by qualifying undergraduates — usually juniors and seniors — to teach some courses' precepts.
The Universe
Astrophysics, for one, invites majors after the fall term of their junior year to precept.
Professor Michael Strauss of the Astrophysics Department is one of the three-man team that teaches AST 203: The Universe. As an intro-level course designed for non-science majors, problem sets are a new — and possibly uncomfortable — frontier for some who are enrolled.
To help combat the phobia, the course uses a handful of undergraduate preceptors.
"Our majors in the past have been very enthusiastic about this," Strauss said.
The position is paid and requires a substantial commitment.
Each week, preceptors meet with one or more of the professors, contribute to problem sets and have involvement in the grading process.
"There's a lot of homework. Without the undergrads involved, I don't know how we'd do it all," Strauss said.
Their position demands that they be approachable and helpful for the students who do not have as much technical knowledge as they do.
"I enjoyed talking to students who don't really have much experience with math or physics and explaining these things that I'm really passionate about," said Joey Muñoz '05, an astrophysics major who was a preceptor for AST 203 last spring.
Though he was new to teaching, he said he had an excellent grasp of the material in the class.
But rather than a act as a review of basic concepts, the position provided Muñoz with invaluable experience because he wants to go into teaching eventually.
Muñoz said during office hours, many students came for help in an informal setting. Then, in weekly problem sessions, groups of students got together with their preceptors to work through the problem sets.
"They've already been through all the material in the lectures. We try to explain anything that they didn't figure out in class," Muñoz said.
The meetings are optional, but large portions of the class still attend.
"The TA's get mobbed by students," Strauss said.
Preceptors also set convenient office hour times and locations, in effort to be more accessible to students. But students get a chance to interact with and learn from peers.
"Undergrads are much more on the same level than with graduate students," Muñoz said.
Orgo
The well-known premed prerequisites CHM 301A: Organic Chemistry I and CHM 302A: Organic Chemistry II also use undergraduate preceptors.
The group-based section of the class replaces lectures by the middle of the term. Students meet several times a week to work through their problem sets and materials. The class is based on applications as opposed to lecturing, and many – over half of those enrolled – prefer the no-lecture option.
Professor Maitland Jones began the group section as a one-semester experiment six years ago. It worked so well that it became a staple of the course.
At each session, Jones and his post-doc assistant wander the room full of students.
"I talk to the folks as they work on the problems, clearing up anything they might be struggling with and telling them what they could do better," Jones said.
The undergraduate TA's are present as well, playing a role very similar to their superiors. Ten to twelve sophomores, juniors and seniors, many of them chemistry majors but all alumni of the group-based course are the basis for many students' success in the class.
"I could handle maybe 20 kids and maybe two of us could handle 40. But it really couldn't reach many people and thus wouldn't have as much of an impact," Jones said.
As veterans of the course, the preceptors have the unique opportunity to share helpful spointers about the material.
"I don't even want to call them TA's – they're teachers!" Jones said.
Organic Chemistry preceptors also help plan the course's curriculum.
At weekly lunch meetings, the undergrads and professor share ideas, express concerns and focus on next week's direction.
Much of the meeting is focused on the students' understanding of the material and how each of the members of the teaching team can make an impact on students' learning.
"I'm just knocked out by how good they are at what they do," Jones said.
The group sessions provide students with hands-on access to the sometimes difficult material.
Jones, and many students who elect to take the group-based course, have few regrets about the nontraditional approach.
"Though it's not suited to everyone, it really could be a model for how to teach chemistry," Jones said.
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