The UCLA Learning Assistant Program aims to support introductory STEM
courses by using undergraduate students as instructors during labs and
lectures. In addition to working with other students, Learning Assistants
(LAs) take a seminar on teaching techniques and learning. While research
has shown LA Programs are beneficial for students taking LA-supported
courses (Otero et al. 2010) less has been done on what benefits the
experience provides LAs. There is previous research showing learning
benefits for teaching material to others (Fiorella & Mayer 2013) and for
learning strategies like metacognitive awareness (Young & Fry 2008).
Evidence also suggests the program improves STEM attitude (Close et al.
2016), which also leads to improved learning outcomes (Glynn et al. 2011).
Because of these previous findings, we hypothesize that students who serve
as LAs will see improvement on measures of metacognitive awareness and STEM
attitude, as well as better overall academic performance. In addition to
providing feedback to the program here at UCLA, this study will fill a gap
in current literature on the impact programs like this have on the
undergraduates who serve as student instructors.