One place to start is the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).
They have recommendations for the various science teaching fields. However,
be aware that most states have specific requirements that may or may not
follow NSTA recommendations.
Ohio, like most states, requires that the program offered by the
college/university be approved. Therefore, Bluffton College submitted a
proposal to the State of Ohio Department of Education that said... these
courses are what we propose as the requirements to receive a teaching
license in physics for students graduating from Bluffton College. The State
then approves this program, and it becomes the curriculum for our students.
The other college ten miles down the road will have a different approved
program.
This means you are likely to find not only variations from state to state,
but also variations from college to college within each state.
For many years the State of Ohio simply said that a physics teacher needed
30 semester hours (45 quarter hours) of physics courses distributed over
both introductory-level courses and upper-level courses. They did not
specify any amount of non-physics courses. Therefore, just about any
combination of 30 hours of both lower and upper-level physics would do the
trick. Apparently they assumed the courses would have sufficient math
prerequisites, etc.
Now the State of Ohio has said that teacher-education students need to
follow the spirit of the NSTA dual-field model which makes them licensed to
teach both chemistry and physics... there is no teaching license for physics
alone in the State of Ohio. The dual field model from NSTA requires 24
semester hours of physics, 24 semester hours of chemistry, and 10 semester
hours distributed between earth/space science and life science. (i.e.
physics teachers must be "equally prepared" to teach both chemistry and
physics, and also have some biology as well as earth/space science).
However, the individual college/universities still get to choose the
specific make-up of these courses, except the curriculum still must be
approved by the state. So there will be wide variability. I think you will
find that many states follow this general plan. In general a physics-only
teacher would take 32 semester hours of physics (NSTA) and a
physics-chemistry teacher would take 24 hours each (NSTA)... plus some
earth/space science and life science amounting to about 10 semester hours
(NSTA). It would appear that whatever math and statistics is required to
pass the physics courses is typically deemed sufficient.
Anyway, try starting with www.nsta.org... but remember individual states may
or may not follow what NSTA says.
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