Re: Evolution in schools (was Re: Evolution...)
- From: Glenn Knapp <kahuna@VCN.COM>
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 15:47:05 -0600
>Am I nuts here? I freely admit that I am not a high school
teacher.
>Who on this list is a high school teacher? What think you? I
want to
>know if I am full of baloney.
>
>
>Stefan Jeglinski
Stefan,
I don't think you're nuts. I'm a high school physics teacher,
but not the best example (I got my degree in nuclear engineering and then
spent 24 years in the Navy before I went back to school to get my
teaching degree at the University of Wyoming).
Most of the physics teachers I know are not physics majors. In
my state, to teach science you have to collect so many hours in life
sciences, physical sciences, and earth sciences. Then you have to
collect a total of 35 hours in either earth science, life science,
chemistry, or physics. That gets you certified in that
subject. You also have to have 20 hours in one of the other
disciplines -- which also gets you a certification. You can then be
certified in any other science by amassing 12 hours in it. Most
physics teachers have just the 12 hours in physics.
The schools are having a heck of a time. I teach in the
largest high school in Wyoming, we added a second year of physics and our
physics enrollment has increased every year since I got here, so we
needed to hire another teacher. We had 12 people apply for the
position. None of them were even certified to teach physics - had
the 12 hours. They all were willing to give it a try, however, but
we didn't hire any of them. We ended up getting a lead from the
university on a good candidate who was a physics major and ended up,
happily, hiring her. But it's tough out there. Teaching
school doesn't pay well and someone with the intelligence to major in
physics doesn't see teaching as a good use of their talents.
For an old retired sailor, education is a better deal.
I've been teaching for seven years, have gone up a "step"
each year, and moved over onto the master's degree column this year, yet,
I still make more money from my Navy retirement than I do form
teaching.
That said, I think that we have to keep the bar elevated in
secondary science. You have to have high expectations, or you're
selling the students short. It is true that there is a lack of
really qualified science teachers, but we can's use that as an
excuse.
So what can be done to develop a good crop of science
teachers?
At UW, the physics department (which has been through some trying
times - the state legislature tried to eliminate it to save money [what
message does that send to the state's young people?]) is not terribly
interested in secondary educators. Only one of the professors is
enthusiastic about working with the college of education. Very few
undergraduate physics majors are in the pipeline.
Glenn
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Physics Kahuna
Kahuna Physics Institute - on the flapping edge of physics research.