Hello!

I am a lecturer teaching general chemistry at Iowa State University. I have never used TBL before but I am very excited to try this summer.

Our general chemistry classes all have lectures (2 or 3 times per week depending on course, with instructor) and recitations (one time per week with teaching assistant). Did anyone use TBL for a class designed to have recitation sections? If so, how did you handle it? 

I can see two big problems, especially during Spring and Fall semesters when we have high enrollment:

1. Students sign up for class and recitation at the same time (before I can form the teams) and team members  will likely end up in different recitation sections. 

2. A large course may have up to 40 TA’s. 

Do I train the TA’s to practice TBL or do I let the TA’s run a classic recitation section, thus reviewing topics and working on sample problems (students will not need to be in the same recitation section)?

Thanks,

Cristina