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Characterizing different enactments of instructional reform approaches is key to improving science education. The Learning Assistant (LA) model leads to many positive student outcomes in a wide range of STEM courses. However, discrepancies in outcomes in different introductory STEM courses have led to a call for more work investigating how the LA model is implemented. This multiple-case study seeks to bridge that gap by providing a high-resolution comparison of three LA-facilitated physics and chemistry courses at two institutions. We used cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to characterize the activity systems of LA-facilitated interactions and the whole class discussion immediately following these interactions, to understand how instructors leveraged these interactions in their instruction and the roles LAs played in that integration. We found that integrating small group interactions lies on a spectrum based on the extent to which the instructors used student ideas (developed during small group discussion) as mediating artifacts in the whole class discussion, enabled by different divisions of labor and driven by instructors’ different goals. Furthermore, we found that LAs provided both conceptual and emotional support to students to support the integration. Implications for teaching with LAs, and for research on instructional reform more broadly will be discussed.