Common app awards section

by Ravit Dotan, Philosophy

Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019

One of the most common problems GSIs encounter is low student participation in sections.

Too often, only a handful of students ask questions, interact with the instructor, or interact with one another. This situation is unfortunate. First, active participation is crucial to achieving the pedagogical goals of most classes.

Students need to ask their questions in order to learn what the answers are, and they need to engage with others in order to cultivate skills such as constructing arguments or raising and responding to objections.

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Second, low participation is an equity problem, since marginalized students are often inclined to participate less frequently than others. One result is that it may be more difficult for them to succeed in the class. Moreover, low participation may reinforce imposter syndrome and other kinds of limiting beliefs.

I decided to transform my sections after numerous students shared the sentiment that when only a handful of students participate, oth