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Re: physics teaching licensure (spinoff of Physics First thread)



This is in response to Digby Willard's discussion of combining physics
teacher licensing with chemistry (or other things). If you don't read it
all, read the last paragraph.

(1) It is possible for a prospective physics teacher in Ohio to combine
physics with math, or biology, or even English, instead of chemistry.
However, it is not possible to do physics alone. Nor is it possible to do
chemistry alone. Ohio made physics and chemistry licensure possible only
using the "dual field" model of NSTA. Physics licensure (or chemistry
licensure) can only be obtained in combination with something else; most
often in combination with each other. The science professors in Ohio
colleges fought this, but we did not even come close to being successful.

(2) People wanting to discuss teacher licensure in science might want to
read the guidelines and/or recommendations of the National Science Teachers
Association (NSTA) because NSTA is what a lot of state departments of
education follow.

(a) NSTA defines science licenses in biology, chemistry, physics, and
earth/space science.

(b) According to NSTA, to become licensed in a "single field" (chosen from
above four) you need 32 semester hours in the field of licensure, plus 16
semester hours divided between the remaining fields (48 total science
hours). [Ohio uses the single field model for life science and earth/space
science licensure. Math is similar.]

(c) NSTA also defines a "dual field" model that requires 24 hours in each
of two fields (48) plus 6 hours distributed between the other two (54 hours
total).

(d) NSTA also defines a "broad field model" that allows a science teacher
to teach "anything." This requires 24 hours in one discipline, 15 hours
each in two more disciplines, 6 hours in the fourth discipline (60 total
science hours).

(3) Ohio (for reasons not well understood and not described here) decided
that physics (or chemistry) can only be taught as part of a "dual field"
model. Most often the college student would choose chemistry and physics as
the dual fields, but they could choose biology and physics, or math and
physics, or earth/space science and physics. They just can't choose physics
by itself. I am not sure where the "lobby" for this came from, but it was
undefeatable.

(4) NSTA defines a middle school science teacher and specifies 24 semester
hours of science for this, distributed over the four areas of science.
However, they specify these 24 hours must follow these minimums: 8 hours in
biology, 8 hours in earth/space; 8 hours in chemistry/physics.

NOTE THIS. This means a middle school teacher could get NSTA certification
with only one physics course and one chemistry course. In any state that
specifies that the middle school license includes ninth grade, a "physics
first" plan could put a middle-school licensed teacher in front of a
nine-grade physics class, and that teacher might have had only one physics
course in college! This could happen in Ohio. An Ohio teacher licensed for
middle-school science can teach any (repeat... any) science course in grades
4 through 9.


Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817