Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course
ABSTRACT Practitioners of the mentor mindset in academic settings maintain high standards while providing strong support in and outside the classroom. They encourage the growth mindset by being motivating and transparent, reducing stress, and providing feedback that can help intellectual growth. The...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00049-25 |
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| author | Mark A. Sarvary Mitra Asgari Frank R. Castelli Joseph M. Ruesch |
| author_facet | Mark A. Sarvary Mitra Asgari Frank R. Castelli Joseph M. Ruesch |
| author_sort | Mark A. Sarvary |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Practitioners of the mentor mindset in academic settings maintain high standards while providing strong support in and outside the classroom. They encourage the growth mindset by being motivating and transparent, reducing stress, and providing feedback that can help intellectual growth. The mentor mindset is the foundation of the professional development program for undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistants in the largest introductory biology course at Cornell University (Investigative Biology). The professional development program helps these teaching assistants gain pedagogical skills that they can immediately apply in the inquiry-based laboratory course. They provide feedback to each other and help with course improvement. Due to this professional development program, they are equipped with pedagogical and mentoring skills that allow them to do more than just teach the course material. The collaboration among the different groups (undergraduate teaching assistants, graduate teaching assistants, course instructors, and students) mutually benefits everyone. While each group has different reasons for being part of this learning community, they support each other in reaching their goals with the shared mission of developing a high-quality and supportive learning environment. Professional development for undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants must keep their incentives, motivations, and goals in mind and help them collaborate. This article discusses the development of this program over the past two decades and shares the resources to help instructors build similar programs using the mentor mindset. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5ef5d97eafd846679e46b80f30e5ddb2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1935-7877 1935-7885 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education |
| spelling | doaj-art-5ef5d97eafd846679e46b80f30e5ddb22025-08-21T13:01:49ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education1935-78771935-78852025-08-0126210.1128/jmbe.00049-25Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory courseMark A. Sarvary0Mitra Asgari1Frank R. Castelli2Joseph M. Ruesch3Investigative Biology Teaching Laboratories, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USAUniversity of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USAGeorgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USAInvestigative Biology Teaching Laboratories, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USAABSTRACT Practitioners of the mentor mindset in academic settings maintain high standards while providing strong support in and outside the classroom. They encourage the growth mindset by being motivating and transparent, reducing stress, and providing feedback that can help intellectual growth. The mentor mindset is the foundation of the professional development program for undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistants in the largest introductory biology course at Cornell University (Investigative Biology). The professional development program helps these teaching assistants gain pedagogical skills that they can immediately apply in the inquiry-based laboratory course. They provide feedback to each other and help with course improvement. Due to this professional development program, they are equipped with pedagogical and mentoring skills that allow them to do more than just teach the course material. The collaboration among the different groups (undergraduate teaching assistants, graduate teaching assistants, course instructors, and students) mutually benefits everyone. While each group has different reasons for being part of this learning community, they support each other in reaching their goals with the shared mission of developing a high-quality and supportive learning environment. Professional development for undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants must keep their incentives, motivations, and goals in mind and help them collaborate. This article discusses the development of this program over the past two decades and shares the resources to help instructors build similar programs using the mentor mindset.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00049-25undergraduate studentgraduate studentprofessional developmentpedagogyteaching assistantmentor mindset |
| spellingShingle | Mark A. Sarvary Mitra Asgari Frank R. Castelli Joseph M. Ruesch Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education undergraduate student graduate student professional development pedagogy teaching assistant mentor mindset |
| title | Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| title_full | Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| title_fullStr | Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| title_full_unstemmed | Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| title_short | Applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| title_sort | applying the mentor mindset to undergraduate and graduate student teaching assistant professional development in a laboratory course |
| topic | undergraduate student graduate student professional development pedagogy teaching assistant mentor mindset |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00049-25 |
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