Recruiting the Next Generation of Middle and High School Science Teachers

written by Carl Wenning, David Sykes, and Kimberly Shaw
published by the American Association of Physics Teachers

In the State of Illinois, a significant number of science teaching positions are filled by cross-over science teachers. According to the State of Illinois, 2500 teaching positions will need to be filled by qualified science teachers during the next five years. The number of science teachers graduating from preparation programs is far less than the necessary 500 per year. From a reflection on many years of science teaching and teacher candidate preparation, science teachers, science teacher educators, science department chairpersons, and high school administrators have identified five criteria that they believe are crucial for informing a selection process that is geared toward obtaining the best possible science teacher candidates, and further, they have developed guidelines for creating the optimal environment for science teacher recruitment.

http://www.phy.ilstu.edu/pipeline/booklet4.pdf

A Physics Teacher Education Program in the Philippines

written by Jocelyn Locay-locay, Ed van den Berg, and Marilou Gallos

Many high-income countries experience great difficulty in attracting talented young people into physics teacher education (e.g. Smithers & Robinson, 2005). The USA and Canada even recruit science teachers in the Philippines which itself experiences a serious shortage of qualified and competent physics teachers. How can one develop an exemplary physics teacher education program and attract a critical mass of students? The Philippine program described below increased its enrollment from 1 to 30 students per year and provides some answers to this question.

http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/spring2006/vandenberg.html

Recruiting the Next Generation of Science Teachers

written by Ingrid Novodvorsky

Undergraduate students at the University of Arizona who wish to become middle or high school science teachers have a unique opportunity to pursue their goal in the company of other science majors and under the guidance of science educators and experienced mentor teachers. This article presents some of the methods used to recruit science majors into the program, as well as plans to increase the number of students recruited.

http://www.aps.org/units/fed/newsletters/fall06-spring07/novodvorsky.html