Spring 2017, Spring 2018, and Fall 2018

Course Information

• Course: PSC 202 Introduction to Political Analysis
• Semester: Spring 2017, Spring 2018, and Fall 2018
• Instructor: Dr. Christopher G. Faricy (Spring 2017) and Dr. Simon Weschle (Spring 2018)
• Enrollment: 101 undergraduate students (Spring 2017), 100 undergraduate students (Spring 2018), and 96 undergraduate students (Fall 2018).

Course Description

The purpose of this course, required for political science majors, is to build skills for conducting, interpreting, and presenting political science research. These skills include: basic research and data collection practices, techniques for measuring political science concepts quantitatively, hypothesis testing, interpretation of statistical evidence, and the presentation of findings in a clear and compelling manner. Tying these components together is a thematic focus on important political science concepts such as democracy, power, or representation. (excerpt from Dr. Weschle’s Spring 2018 syllabus)

My Responsibility

In Spring 2017, my main responsibilities were grading quizzes, problem sets, and exams and monitoring and guest lecturing sections. I was able to observe how other Teaching Assistants lead their discussion sections in Spring 2017. It was very interesting to watch and learn how effective small group discussion is.

In Spring 2018 and Fall 2018, I was the instructor for two recitation sections, respectively. Each of the sections in Spring 2018 had twenty-five students and the two sections in Fall 2018 had twenty-three and twenty-five, respectively. I graded their problem sets and exams and lead the discussions in the sections, applying the small group discussions. I also made problem sets with the other Teaching Assistant under Dr. Weschle’s supervision.

Additional materials provided upon request.