Despite federal legislation mandating highly qualified teachers in every classroom, United States school districts confirm that there is a considerable shortage of physics teachers every year — a much larger deficit than any other science discipline.
“We have a shortage of teachers — and it’s a little worse of a problem for North Carolina,” David Haase, a professor of physics, said. “A lower percentage of students here take high school physics than compared with other states. We know there are a lot of high schools here that don’t even teach physics — rural schools especially.”
New physics teachers are entering school systems at a staggeringly slow rate. According to Haase, N.C. State produces one qualified physics teacher every two years on average.
“We’d be just delighted if we got up to two per year,” Haase said.
In 2001, an organization of physicists called the American Physical Society (APS) created a program called PhysTEC to try and correct this fast-growing problem.
PhysTEC, which stands for the Physics Teacher Education Coalition, is a project dedicated to improving and promoting the education of future physicists and physical science teachers. This past summer, PhysTEC gave the physics department a grant to create a program to get university students interested in pursuing a career in physics education.
“The point of the program is to make sure students know about high school teaching as a career,” Haase said. “We want to encourage them — and to break barriers between physics and education departments while we’re at it.”
The program, which unites the physics department with the STEM education department, will take undergraduate students and give them a crash-course in physics education.
This semester, five undergraduate students were selected to join the program as “learning assistants.” There are two main components in the program. First is a PY 205 recitation class. Each learning assistant is paired with a graduate student, and together they co-lead the recitation class.
These learning assistants must also take a course titled Introduction to Physics Teaching. The course is taught by Haase and Mary Louise Bellamy of the University’s STEM education program. The class talks about a variety of topics that intersect physics and education. Every Tuesday afternoon, the students learn how to work out physics problems so they’re easier to understand, how to accommodate different learning styles, and how to conduct physics demonstrations among other subjects.
“We know that not everyone will become a physics teacher,” Haase said. “But we think if we introduce enough of them to the idea, some of them will.”
Adrienne Cage, a senior in physics, never wanted to teach. She hadn’t even considered the idea until last year, when she worked in the physics demonstration room in the Physics Department. Cage set up demonstrations for professors during lectures, but she would also teach younger students about physics concepts through demonstration.
“I got to teach physics on a really elementary level — and part of that really appealed to me,” Cage said. “I love seeing the light bulbs turn on when I teach someone something new.”
Cage is one of the five undergraduate students currently enrolled in the Learning Assistant program, and so far she said she enjoys it.
“I’ve even started noticing things that only professors seem to care about,” Cage said. “Like people talking in the back of the room? It gets really distracting sometimes. I feel like I respect professors a whole lot more now.”
Cage isn’t quite certain what path she’ll choose to follow after graduation, but after becoming a learning assistant, she says a career in physics education is definitely an option.
“If you know you want to be a teacher, this is a great opportunity,” Cage said. “If you don’t know, it’s still a great experience.”
You don’t have to be a physics major to apply to the program — in fact, Cage is the only one of the current undergraduate learning assistants in the physics department.
“Everyone is a teacher at some point in their lives,” Haase said. “Teaching is more than just giving lectures. Learning to teach will prepare you to be a professional.”
