California Poly, San Luis Obispo
Science Teacher Preparation Program

Our goal at Cal Poly is to increase the number and the quality of physics teachers. Our philosophy has been that people teach the way they are taught and that more people will find teaching interesting if they experience new and different modes of teaching. Therefore we have changed the way we teach our introductory physics courses and our introduction to teaching courses so that students experience the type of teaching we would like them to use. In this way, all of our future teachers will have the types of learning experiences that we want them to draw from when they begin teaching. We have made significant progress toward this goal with support from a PhysTEC grant.

• We have changed two introductory physics courses for science majors (the 1st and 3rd courses in three quarter sequence) to incorporate Interactive lecture demonstrations (ILDs), group work, and CBL laboratories into the courses. This is the course future physics teachers take.
• We reformed the first and second quarter physics course for elementary teachers using the Powerful Ideas in Physical Science Curriculum, and now Physics for Everyday Thinking. This is the course that future elementary school teachers take.
• We reformed the science teaching methods course to maximize the probability that our students would actually use "constructivist teaching strategies" after leaving our program and entering the teaching profession.  This course is required for the single-subject credential.
• The college has begun supporting a Teacher-in-residence (TIR). Using the TIR as the supervisor of student teachers dramatically improved the quality of the supervision and our relations with local teachers and the local school districts.

Cal Poly offers two types of credentials: the single-subject (grades 7-12) and multiple subject ( grades K-8).

Single Subject Credential (physics teacher)
Students entering the single subject program must be subject matter certified in their subject area. For physics, this involves a breadth requirement and a physics requirement. The breadth requirement includes courses in biology, chemistry, physics (two quarters PhysTEC*), and earth science. The physics requirements consist of a set of upper-division physics courses.

The teaching credential program is one year. The first quarter consists of three education courses and a science teaching methods course (PhysTEC). The second quarter consists of two education courses and part time student teaching (students are mentored by TIR). The third quarter consists of full-time teaching (students are mentored by TIR).

*Not all sections are taught in the PhysTEC format. Each instructor decides for themselves.

Multiple Subject Credentials (elementary school teachers)
Students entering the multiple subject program must be multiple subject matter certified which is be done by taking a standardized test. The list of required courses for the Liberal Studies major, the future teachers, includes three quarters of physical science: physics (PhysTEC), chemistry (PhysTEC), and geology.
The teaching credential program is one year. The first quarter is four education courses. The second and third quarter consist of one education course and ten units of student teaching.

Institution URL

http://www.calpoly.edu