Session D03: Research in Recruiting Physics Teachers

Recruiting teachers in high-needs STEM fields

The United States faces persistent shortages of appropriately trained middle and high school STEM teachers in high-needs fields, particularly physics, chemistry, and computer science. The American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, Computing Research Association and Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership surveyed over 6000 current and recent majors in our disciplines. The project also involved Monica Plisch and co-author Casey Brown. Our main findings included \begin{itemize} \item Around half of STEM majors indicate some interest in teaching, suggesting a significant pool from which more STEM teachers could be recruited. \item Undergraduate STEM majors underestimate teacher compensation, and the salaries they report would interest them in teaching are close to actual salaries. \item Students are most inclined to consider teaching in departments where the faculty discuss teaching as a career option. \end{itemize} Our recommendations to professional societies and disciplinary departments are to \begin{enumerate} \item Impress upon university faculty and advisors in STEM disciplinary departments the importance of promoting middle and high school teaching with their undergraduate majors and graduate students, and of providing them accurate information about the actual salary and positive features of teaching. \item Support high-quality academic programs that prepare students for STEM teaching, and expand good models to more universities. Strong programs provide improved coursework, prevent certification from requiring extra time, and support their students and graduates financially and academically. \item Support financial and other support for students pursuing STEM teaching. \item Advocate for increases in annual compensation, including summer stipends, on the order of $5K-$25K for teachers in the hardest to staff STEM disciplines. \item Support programs that improve the professional life and community of STEM teachers. \end{enumerate}   

Developing physics teacher identity through Learning Assistant program participation

In this study, we analyze the experience of students in the Physics Learning Assistant (LA) program at TXST in terms of the existing theoretical frameworks of community of practice and physics identity. The goal of our current project is to understand the details of the impacts of participation in the LA experience on participants' practice and self-concept, in order to identify critical elements of LA program structure that positively influence physics identity and physics teaching interest for students. Our analysis suggests that participation in the LA program impacts LAs in ways that support both stronger ``physics student'' identity and stronger ``physics instructor'' identity, and that provide opportunities for negotiation of their forms of membership in multiple communities. Increased sense of community with peers, near-peers, and faculty seems to be an important component of this identity development and reconciliation.   

A multi-society partnership: Changing the conversation around STEM teacher recruitment.

Recent research in STEM teacher preparation has identified strongly held beliefs about the teaching profession, many of which are misperceptions. These misperceptions discourage STEM undergraduates from exploring teaching as a viable career option. Study results also suggest that college and university faculty in STEM departments either do not mention middle or high school teaching as a career option or misrepresent the profession. Major misperceptions include: (1) the inaccurate belief that the salary gap between teaching and private sector employment is very wide; and (2) inaccurate beliefs about tangible and intangible benefits of the profession. Encouraging discussion of teaching as a profession and changing these misperceptions is the goal of \textit{Get the Facts Out}, an information campaign guided by behavioral theory that aims to increase the number of well prepared math and science teachers who will, in turn, increase the number and diversity of high school graduates well prepared to major in STEM disciplines. We have formed a team that includes the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Chemical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and faculty at the Colorado School of Mines and West Virginia University. The team is developing a \textit{Get the Facts Out} campaign toolkit to support local faculty champions in changing the conversation about STEM teaching careers in their department. The toolkit is based on pilot interventions that show positive results in shifting perceptions among students and faculty, and outperform traditional recruitment efforts.