In-Service Physics Teacher Survey Kimberly A. Shaw Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Carl Wenning Illinois State University 14 October 2004

The Survey o Solicited approximately 80 physics teachers (former workshop participants, program graduates, cooperating teachers, etc.) o Self-selected participation o N = 21 (~25% response rate) o 100 items in survey o Data collected by Carl ISU

Recruitment and Retention Questions Addressed o What role do you play in physics teacher candidate recruitment? o How frequently are your students involved in the following activities? o To what extent do each of the following factors play in making you glad that you are a teacher? o If you were to leave the teaching profession, how important would each of the following factors be in your decision-making process? o School questions about science clubs and future teacher clubs. o Demographic questions about teacher

Participant Demographics o Have any of your students ever gone on to become a high school physics or physical science teacher? o Original secondary endorsements? o 48% = yes o 38% = no o 14% = uncertain o 14% in each of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology o 57% in more than one area

Participant Demographics o How many years teaching science? 19% 1 to 5 years 19% 1 to 5 years 19% 6 to 10 years 19% 6 to 10 years 14% 11 to 15 years 14% 11 to 15 years 10% 16 to 20 years 10% 16 to 20 years 38% 21 or more years 38% 21 or more years o 95% now endorsed to teach physics

Direct Recruitment Practices o How often do you encourage students as a whole to become teachers in general? o How often do you encourage individual students to become teachers in general? o How often do you relate a students skills to the job of teacher? o How often do you encourage your students as a whole to become physics or physical science teachers? o How often do you encourage individual students to become physics or physical science teachers? o How often do you speak about growing need for physics/phy sci teachers? MED 1-4x/semester MED = 1-4x/semester MED 0-1x/year

Indirect Recruitment Practices o How often do you provide opportunities for your students to teach formally? o How often…to teach informally? o How often…express joy of teaching to students as a group? o, … to students individually? o How often do you talk with your students about the nature of teaching? o How often…express one of the rewards of teaching is making a difference in the lives of others? o How often…express benefits of teaching? MED = 1-4x/month MED = 1-4x/sem MED = 1-4x/semester MED = 1-4x/month

Factors that make you glad to be a teacher FactorRankScore Ability to make a positive difference in the lives of students Joy of working with students in a variety of settings 2 (tie) 1.19 Watching students rise to the challenge of physics 2 (tie) The joy of working with people in general and youth in particular A love for the subject matter 5 (tie) 1.33 The job of being able to share knowledge with others 5 (tie) 1.33 A chance to contribute to the build up of society 5 (tie) 1.33

If you to leave the teaching profession… FactorRankScore Poor attitudes of students Student misbehaviors 2 (tie) 1.71 Lack of support and respect from students, parents, or admin 2 (tie) Increasing family demands including relocation of spouse 2 (tie) Too much demand on personal time 6 (tie) 1.76 Approaching retirement age 6 (tie)

Pertinent School Associations o Science club at school? o 38% yes o Competitive science team? o 86% yes o Club for future teachers? o 25% yes

More Demographic Data o How many Physics content courses have you taken? o 80% = 5 or more o 20% = 3 or less o Have you had post-college training in physics? o 38% = summer workshop o 43% = regular course o 14% = both o 5% = none o How well prepared to teach physics? o 62% = very well o 38% = fairly well.

More Demographic Data o Satisfactory lab equipment and space? o 67% = yes o Satisfactory demonstration equipment? o 67% = yes o How did you obtain your certification? o 86% = regular teaching program o 14% = alternative certification program

Recommendations and Conclusions o Caution!! Only trends can be drawn from this too small convenience sample. A repeat of this survey with greater number of responses could be performed (long term). o Its clear that physics teachers have great impact on teacher recruitment, but are HS physics teachers doing enough? What more can we do? o We should relate high school teaching experiences to careers in teaching. o We should appeal to students sense of altruism.

Recommendations o We should express our job satisfaction. o We should speak about the benefits of teaching physics. o We should speak with individual students directly about careers. o We should continue to emphasize the applications of physics.

Other concerns regarding response rate o Is the small response rate reason to believe that the sample is biased? o Is the small response rate indicative of a lack of teacher interest in recruitment? o Is the small response rate suggestive of a lack of concerns about the negative aspects of teaching? o Is the small response rate suggestive of a feeling of powerlessness to impact student entrance into teaching careers?