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In his Physhare post of 16 Feb 2003 11:46:07-0500 that initiated the
13-post Physhare thread "Shortage of qualified physics teachers,"
Kenneth Bowles wrote:
"What is everyone's opinion on why there is a shortage of qualified
physics teachers?"
In Hake (2002a,b) I list five important roadblocks to science/math
literacy of the general population [for all the references below see
Hake (2002a) - except for Hake (1998; 2000a,b; 2002a,b,c,d,e) that
are given under REFERENCES in this post]:
(1) High-stakes state-mandated tests of reading and mathematics.
(2) State science standards that are antithetic to the National
Science Standards (NRC 1996) and the AAAS (1993) "Benchmarks for
Science Literacy."
(3) An antiquated K-12 science/math curriculum.
(4) Science textbooks that are overstuffed, uninformed by education
research, and often riddled with scientific errors.
Attempts to overcome roadblocks "1" - "4" will require considerable
educational redesign (Wilson & Daviss 1994) as well as grass-roots
political effort. In my view those four roadblocks, challenging as
they are, will be far easier to overcome than the fifth and most
formidable:
(5) The dearth of effective P (Preschool) - 12 science/math teachers
. . . [See e.g., Hake 2002e].
In Hake (2002a) I list steps that might be taken to reduce the
shortage of effective science/math teachers. The fact that these
steps seem to be needed indicates some of the reasons for the
shortage of effective science/math teachers generally and physics
teachers in particular.
The steps are:
1. MOTIVATE UNIVERSITIES TO DISCHARGE THEIR OBLIGATIONS TO:
The NSF (1996) Advisory Committee, chaired by Melvin George, had this
to say: "Many faculty in SME&T. . . . (Science, Math, Engineering,
and Technology) . . . . at the post-secondary level continue to blame
the schools for sending underprepared students to them. But,
increasingly, the higher education community has come to recognize
the fact that teachers and principals in the K- 12 system are all
people who have been educated at the undergraduate level, mostly in
situations in which SME&T programs have not taken seriously enough
their vital part of the responsibility for the quality of America's
teachers."
b. Vigorously pursue R & D directed towards the development and
implementation of effective methods of instruction [Reif (1974); Wilson &
Daviss (1994); AAAS (1993, Chapter 15; 1997g); Redish (1999); NRC (1999);
Duderstadt (2000, 2001); Shavelson & Towne (2001); Pelligrino et al. (2001);
Hake (2002c,d).
c. Think of education in terms of student learning rather than the
delivery of instruction (Barr & Tagg 1995).
2. LOBBY LEGISLATORS AND SCHOOL BOARDS TO TREAT P-12 TEACHERS LIKE THE VALUED
PROFESSIONALS THEY ARE BY DRASTICALLY UPGRADING THEIR SALARIES
(Heller 2001) AND WORKING CONDITIONS (Jones 2001) [ESPECIALLY IN THE
INNER CITIES (Kozol 1992)].
Heller suggests that teachers be paid at least as much as mechanical
engineers. Other concrete proposals to substantially increase
salaries of P-12 teachers have been given by Don Langenberg (2000),
the Hart-Rudman
Commission (2001b), and Vladimir Putin [see Daniszewski (2001)] (but
NOT George Bush). For a review of the Heller, Langenberg, and
Hart-Rudman proposals see Lesson #12i of Hake (2002c).
3. FORM COLLABORATIONS OF DISCIPLINARY DEPARTMENTS WITH SCHOOLS OF
EDUCATION TO BETTER EDUCATE PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS AND MENTOR NEW
TEACHERS, AS IN THE RECENTLY FUNDED "PHYSTEC" (Physics Teacher
Education Coalition) PROJECT
<http://www.phystec.org/>, and Stein (2001).
4. PROMOTE THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE CURRICULA FOR
PRE-SERVICE P-12 TEACHERS (AAPT 2002).
Examples from physics are the CPU Project, Physics by Inquiry,
Powerful Ideas in Physical Science, Science Helper K-8 CD-ROM, and Workshop
Physical Science . . .[and I later learned the ASU Modeling Project].
5. SUPPORT THE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND OPERATION OF PROGRAMS TO
ENHANCE THE PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS AND CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF IN-SERVICE
P-12 SCIENCE/MATH TEACHERS.
For a hot-linked list of 25 such programs in physics see Hake (2000b,
Section IIIC). See also the resources at the APS "Education and
Outreach" website
<http://www.aps.org/educ/>.
6. REVITALIZE MORIBUND SCIENCE-MAJOR PROGRAMS.
Physics departments might consider improving deficient programs for
their majors (Wilson 2002) by implementing the 1960's "Curriculum S"
(Jossem 1964, Ford 1987, Hake 2000b). A very effective Curriculum-S
type program appears to be in operation at Rutgers (Lindenfeld 2001).
7. IMPLEMENT (a) MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMS RELATED TO TEACHING AND
EDUCATION, such as two-year professional Master's degree physics
programs (Norton et al. 2002) and MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching)
degrees (for a discussion see Hake (2000b, Section IIIE); (b) PH.D.
PROGRAMS IN EDUCATION RESEARCH SUCH AS NOW EXIST FOR PHYSICS IN ABOUT
20 DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS (for a discussion see Hake 2002c, Lesson #4).
REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 1998. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods in mechanics
instruction," APS Forum on Education Newsletter, Summer, pp. 5-7;
online as ref. 26 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
Hake, R.R. 2000a. "The General Population's Ignorance of Science
Related Societal Issues: A Challenge for the University," AAPT
Announcer 30(2): 105 (2000); online as ref. 11 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.
Hake, R.R. 2000b. "Is it Finally Time to Implement Curriculum S?"
AAPT Announcer 30(4), 103; online as ref. 13 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>. A large number of references
relevant to the reform of P-16 education is given on pages 55-99.
Hake, R.R. 2002a. "Physics First: Opening Battle in the War on
Science/Math Illiteracy?" Submitted to the American Journal of
Physics on 27 June 2002; online as ref. 20 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>. Contains cartoon versions of
Lederman's 9th grade physics cliff and Ford's K-12 science/math ramp.
See also Hake (2002b).
Hake, R.R. 2002c. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort."
Conservation Ecology 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art28>. See also Hake (1998, 2002d).
Hake, R.R. 2002d. "Comment on 'How do we know if we are doing a good
job in physics teaching?' by Robert Ehrlich," Am. J. Phys. 70(10):
1058-1059; online as ref. 17 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.
Hake, R.R. 2002e. "Whence Do We Get the Teachers (Response to
Madison)". PKAL Roundtable on the Future: "Assessment in the Service
of Student Learning, Duke University, March 1-3; updated on 6/17/02;
online as ref. 16 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.