Guide To High School Physics Teacher Preparation

Version 2021.1

This section provides guidelines and recommendations for physics departments and programs seeking to implement, document, publicize, and support pathways to recruit and educate future high school teachers. Implementing an effective teacher preparation program includes creating an environment within your department that promotes high school teaching as a valid and desirable career option. For guidance on offering a physics or physical science course tailored to the needs of elementary education majors, see the section on Courses for Non-STEM Majors.

Benefits

Creating an effective high school teacher preparation program expands the range of careers for which your department or program prepares students to include high school teaching, a profession in which physics majors have near-certain employment prospects upon graduation. Additional benefits for your department may include improving recruiting and retention, increasing graduation rates, gaining eligibility for funding opportunities, improving learning for undergraduate students within and outside the major, and attracting more well-prepared students from area high schools.

The Cycle of Reflection and Action

Effective Practices

Effective Practices

  1. Identify and support faculty champions to lead the development and maintenance of a teacher preparation program

  2. Evaluate the local landscape with respect to teacher preparation

  3. Implement a teacher preparation pathway

  4. Provide students opportunities to learn physics in ways teachers are expected to teach

  5. Provide early teaching experiences for students interested in teaching as a career

  6. Communicate the value of teaching as a career path

  7. Promote the teacher preparation program and actively recruit students

Programmatic Assessments

Programmatic Assessments

  • Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC): A partnership between

    APS

    American Physical Society. Website

    and

    AAPT

    American Association of Physics Teachers. Website

    to help universities improve their physics teacher education programs through funding opportunities, conferences, research, information, and a national network of institutions engaged in physics teacher preparation.
  • UTeach: A STEM teacher preparation program replicated across U.S. universities, including financial and implementation support, annual conferences, research, information, and a national network of institutions engaged in STEM teacher preparation.
  • Get the Facts Out (GFO): An NSF-funded project to disseminate facts about the teaching profession to undergraduate students and faculty in physics, chemistry, and math. GFO supports faculty, advisors, and others in sharing facts about the value of STEM teaching as a profession by providing data; resources such as easily adaptable presentations, posters, and flyers; and opportunities to connect to others engaged in promoting STEM teacher preparation.
  • AIP Statistical Research Center: A group that regularly collects and analyzes data on high school physics teaching and other topics.
  • National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program: A program that offers scholarships to recruit STEM students to become K-12 teachers, with the requirement that scholars commit to teaching in high-need school districts after graduation. The program also hosts an annual conference.

Assessments:

The evidence to support these practices comes from numerous sources. There is an extensive peer-reviewed literature on teacher education both in physics (references 1 and 2) and more generally (reference 3 and 4). The practices in this section also reflect the experiences of the

PhysTEC

Physics Teacher Education Coalition. A partnership between APS and AAPT to help universities improve their physics teacher education programs through funding opportunities, conferences, research, information, and a national network. Website

and

UTeach

A STEM teacher preparation program started at the University of Texas at Austin that has been replicated across U.S. universities, including financial and implementation support, annual conferences, research, information, and a national network. UTeach Institute

programs (see Resources above), both of which have produced significant numbers of well-prepared science teachers. These programs draw on effective practices in future (pre-service) teacher education, the practical experience of faculty who have run successful teacher preparation programs, and, most importantly, the experience and knowledge that comes from replicating teacher preparation programs at other institutions. The PhysTEC and UTeach websites include discussions of their respective components, information on physics teacher shortages in the United States, key elements of successful physics teacher preparation programs, and publications related to physics teacher preparation.

  1. D. Meltzer, M. Plisch, and S. Voko (editors), “Transforming the Preparation of Physics Teachers: A Call to Action. A Report by the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP),” American Physical Society (2012). The Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics subsequently prepared a statement, “Preparing High School Physics Teachers to Build a 21st Century STEM-Capable Workforce.”
  2. S. V. Chasteen, R. E. Scherr, and M. Plisch, “A Study of Thriving Physics Teacher Education Programs: Development of the Physics Teacher Education Program Analysis (PTEPA) Rubric.” American Physical Society (2018).
  3. M. Marder, R. C. Brown, and M. Plisch, “Recruiting Teachers in High-Needs STEM Fields: A Survey of Current Majors and Recent STEM Graduates,” American Physical Society Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) (2017).
  4. L. Darling-Hammond, “Constructing 21st-century teacher education,” Journal of Teacher Education 57(3), 300–314 (2006).
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1738311, 1747563, and 1821372. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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