Noyce Program Annual Conference

8 July 2010Washington, DC

Know Your Audience: Marketing Strategies to Recruit Teachers

Monica Plisch, American Physical SocietyBrett Westbrook, University of Texas at Austin

Chris Anderson, Grimwhimsy Communications

2www.PhysTEC.org

Need for High SchoolPhysics Teachers

Relative Demand by Field Fields with Considerable Shortage (5.00 - 4.21)

Severe/Profound Disabilities (Spec. Ed.) 4.47Mathematics Education 4.46Physics 4.39Multicategorical (Spec. Ed.) 4.39Mild/Moderate Disabilities 4.37Chemistry 4.35Mental Retardation (Spec. Ed.) 4.34Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (Spec. Ed.) 4.31Bilingual Education 4.31Learning Disability (Spec. Ed.) 4.28Visually Impaired 4.24Dual Certificate (Gen./Spec.) 4.23Hearing Impaired 4.23Speech Pathology 4.21

2008 AAEE (American Association of Employment in Education) Educator Supply and Demand in the United States Report

3www.PhysTEC.org

Physics Teacher Education

For comparison, secondary teachers with a major in the field (2004):

Science (all) 77%

Math 61%

English 76%

Social Studies 79%

Source: Schools and staffing survey, National Center for Education Statistics

4www.PhysTEC.org

PhysTEC Project Partners

•National Science Foundation: PHY; DUE (MSP, ATE, CCLI, Noyce); DMR

•APS Campaign for the 21st Century

5www.PhysTEC.org

PhysTEC Project Goals

• Demonstrate successful models for:• Increasing the number of highly-qualified high school

physics teachers

• Improving the quality of K-8 physical science teacher education

• Spread best-practice ideas throughout the physics teacher preparation community

• Transform physics departments to engage in preparing physics teachers

6www.PhysTEC.org

Increase in Physics Teachers Educated at PhysTEC Institutions

0

5

10

15

20

25

Arizona Arkansas Cal Poly* Colorado* WesternMichigan

NonPhysTEC**

Nu

mb

er

of

Teach

ers

(3 y

ear

tota

ls)

Before PhysTEC

Years 1 - 3

Years 4 - 6

*Became a PhysTEC site 2003 or later**Number of physics certifications averaged over 319 institutions in 15 states. Note that all PhysTEC teachers are more highly qualified than the minimum standards in most states.

2001-2004

2004-2007

7www.PhysTEC.org

Building a Physics Teacher Identity

•Physics students strongly identified with discipline

•Many students have considered teaching but are undecided

•Problem: often a large divide between physics and education

•Solution: transform physics department culture to value teaching

•Students maintain physics identity and build teacher identity

8www.PhysTEC.org

Introductory Course Reform

•Implement research-based curricula that improve student learning

•Model effective teaching practices

•Put best instructors in intro courses

•Explicitly value teaching and the teaching profession

9www.PhysTEC.org

Early Teaching Experience: Learning Assistants

LA program• Undergraduate TAs• Concurrent pedagogy course

• Early teaching experience

Impact• Teacher recruitment• Class performance improves

• LA’s knowledge increases

10

www.PhysTEC.org

Teachers in Residence

TIR Activities• Interact one-on-one with prospective teachers • Mentor pre-service and in-service physics teachers

• Implement Learning Assistant programs

• Serve as living role model of a physics teacher

• Build professional learning communities