Contributions of the Teaching Assistance Program for the Formation of Engineering Professors: A Survey in a Brazilian Federal University

This article aimed to identify whether the introductory course teaching of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN, Brazil) contributes to the formation of engineering professors. Still, it sought to identify the main teaching and learning methodologies that tutors and teachers used in undergraduate classes, and to identify the assessment tools used by teachers and how the performance of graduate students, teaching as trainees, contributes to the improvement of undergraduate education. As regards the methodological aspects, it is a descriptive research, using quantitative and qualitative approaches, and having target audience students enrolled in graduate programs in engineering of UFRN, who performed the teaching stage and made the introductory course teaching in 2012. The results show that the experience as an intern teaching contributes to developing some skills in graduate students to serve as lecturers in engineering courses.