Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

The RIOT is an observational protocol that allows an instructor to categorize classroom interactions between the instructor and the student during a classroom observation. The RIOT categories were developed based on observations of the Collaborative Learning through Active Sense-making in Physics (CLASP) curricula at UC Davis. These categories are meant to capture the major pedagogical moves of the instructor in an active learning environment, as RIOT was developed initially to help new physics teaching assistants be more aware of what they were doing in the classroom. 

At the most basic level, the observation protocol differentiates between four major types of interactions: talking at students, shared instructor-student dialogue, observing students, or not interacting. The major interaction types are subdivided into smaller categories to more richly describe the types of interactions within the classroom. The instructor can perform each category of interaction with an individual student, one of five or six different small groups, or with the whole class. Each different combination (category and with whom the interactions take place) appears in a two-dimensional color-coded grid of buttons on the laptop screen. By design, the instructor can only engage in one interaction category at a time.