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Re: 2 million teachers in 2007!



Herb Gottlieb asks: "Is it possible for a student to successfully
complete a program of "science education" without mastering courses in
basic science somewhere?"

I've seen the whole gamut. In Ohio, you used to be able to teach a
subject with only 20 semester hours in that subject (15-20 years ago).
We had students major in physical education (because they wanted to be
coaches) and take 20 hours of biology or chemistry or physics so they
could get certification in some area of science. They figured the
science certification would get them the teaching job, but their heart
was really in coaching... and that's basically what they did (coach)
even though their "primary" job description was teaching. My "physics
teacher" in high school was a football coach. On Mondays and maybe
Tuesdays, during football season, we talked about last Friday's game
during "physics" class. And, of course, on Friday we talked about
tonight's game.

Over the years Ohio has tightened things up. They have somewhat
adopted the NSTA standards that a person needs 32 semester hours in the
science area they teach plus 16 hours in the other sciences. A person
getting certified to teach physics would need 32 hours of physics
courses, and 16 hours of other science (distributed between biology,
chemistry, and earth science). I say "somewhat" because Ohio also
recently combined chemistry and physics into one teaching field called
physical science. In this "dual-field model" the student needs 24
hours of physics, 24 hours of chemistry, 10 hours in biology and/or
earth science... and then s/he can teach both physics and chemistry.

I used to feel pretty good about how the Ohio system as progressed.
Today, at small colleges like Bluffton, the only way you can get
sufficient hours in science is to take legitimate courses from the
Science Department. In fact, since Bluffton College requires the
student complete a major in some field, and since we do not count
"education" as a major, our physical science teachers must complete a
physics major and chemistry minor, or vice-versa, or major in both. We
did have one student recently dual major in math and physics with a
chemistry minor... he moved to Indiana and has certification to teach
physics and math in that state.

What made me feel not so good was the discovery that the large public
universities in Ohio typically declare "education" a major in itself,
and they allow physics teachers, for example, to major in education
rather than physics. In addition, they historically have taught most
of the physics courses for teachers in the education department. I am
aware that some good science has been taught from education
departments, but I am also very aware that most of these courses are
indeed watered down. Perhaps the worst aspect is that prospective
science teachers are not science majors... they don't identify
themselves as scientists first, teachers second... rather, as teachers
who happen to teach science. I am aware some people think that is
proper... that teachers, when asked what they do, should answer "I am a
teacher" rather than answer "I am a physicist." But I personally
disagree. I would prefer my children to be taught by someone who gives
both answers equal weight; but if one is dominant, I want the science
dominant.

I also found that the physics departments and chemistry departments at
the large institutions have not wanted to be bothered teaching
teachers. They have wanted to train researchers. So they have
cheerfully left science-teacher education to the education departments.
So for at least the past 20 years, if not forever, the public
institutions have been putting out high school physics and chemistry
teachers that have not had a bona fide major in physics or chemistry.

There are some signs this is changing. Perhaps research grants are
harder to get; perhaps education grants are easier to get; perhaps
science education within a science department is getting more
prestigious... but some large science departments are hiring professors
with legitimate science background but also with education background.

I am glad to say that the smaller colleges have not typically had any
of these "problems." Most small colleges require the prospective
teacher to major in the field they plan to teach. However, this has
its own drawback. Once the prospective science teacher has graduated
from Bluffton College, s/he is a legitimate physicist, chemist,
biologist, etc. That means s/he could go to graduate school, get an
industrial job, go to medical school... and many of them take one look
at teaching salaries and run the other direction.

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