During both semesters, 6 teaching assistants (TAs) each taught 3 inquiry sections and 6
different TAs each taught 3 traditional sections. Four of the 6 original inquiry TAs from the
fall semester returned to teach inquiry sections again the following spring semester, and
one TA switched from teaching traditional to teaching inquiry labs. Training was provided to
both groups in 2-hour weekly preparatory meetings. Inquiry-lab TAs were given an
additional 4-hour, pre-semester orientation to inquiry methods which included: participation
in an inquiry-based physics exercise, observation of videotapes of inquiry and traditional
classroom exercises, and discussion of questioning techniques utilized in inquiry-based
teaching. Inquiry TAs were also observed twice during the semester by their supervisors to
determine the success of implementation of inquiry-teaching methods using a modification
of the Reform Teaching Observation protocol (Sawada, et al., 2002).