Making the tacit explicit: A teaching intervention programme for early career academics

Abstract

This paper¹ describes the results from a research project designed to enhance the practice of novice science lecturers by making use of expertise already present in the University of Otago. The first phase involved the identification and study of excellent teachers from Division of Science departments. The second phase consisted of a teaching intervention program (TIP) utilizing videotapes of the excellent lecturers teaching and discussing their teaching. Participants in the TIP undertook a number of activities designed to assist them in investigating themselves as teachers (the personal); articulating their aims and intentions in the classroom; making their tacit theories about teaching and learning explicit; and, developing habits of reflective practice. Evidence from the TIP session transcripts, TIP evaluation, initial interviews, and stimulated recall interviews demonstrates that the programme assisted the novice lecturers to articulate their aims, intentions and beliefs, to interrogate their teaching practice and to formalize a plan for the future.