InService Physics Teacher Survey

1
In-Service Physics Teacher Survey

• Kimberly A. Shaw
• Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
• Carl Wenning
• Illinois State University
• 14 October 2004

2
The Survey

• Solicited approximately 80 physics teachers
  (former workshop participants, program graduates,
  cooperating teachers, etc.)
• Self-selected participation
• N 21 (25 response rate)
• 100 items in survey
• Data collected by Carl Wenning _at_ ISU

3
Recruitment and Retention Questions Addressed

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

4
Participant Demographics

• Have any of your students ever gone on to become
  a high school physics or physical science
  teacher?
• Original secondary endorsements?

• 48 yes
• 38 no
• 14 uncertain
• 14 in each of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology
• 57 in more than one area

5
Participant Demographics

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

6
Direct Recruitment Practices

• How often do you encourage students as a whole to
  become teachers in general?
• How often do you encourage individual students to
  become teachers in general?
• How often do you relate a students skills to the
  job of teacher?
• How often do you encourage your students as a
  whole to become physics or physical science
  teachers?
• How often do you encourage individual students to
  become physics or physical science teachers?
• How often do you speak about growing need for
  physics/phy sci teachers?

• MED 1-4x/semester
• MED 1-4x/semester
• MED 1-4x/semester
• MED 0-1x/year
• MED 0-1x/year
• MED 0-1x/year

7
Indirect Recruitment Practices

• How often do you provide opportunities for your
  students to teach formally?
• How oftento teach informally?
• How oftenexpress joy of teaching to students as
  a group?
• , to students individually?
• How often do you talk with your students about
  the nature of teaching?
• How oftenexpress one of the rewards of teaching
  is making a difference in the lives of others?
• How oftenexpress benefits of teaching?

• MED 1-4x/month
• MED 1-4x/month
• MED 1-4x/sem
• MED 1-4x/semester

MED 1-4x/month
MED 1-4x/semester
MED 1-4x/semester
8
Factors that make you glad to be a teacher
9
If you to leave the teaching profession
10
Pertinent School Associations

• Science club at school?
• 38 yes
• Competitive science team?
• 86 yes
• Club for future teachers?
• 25 yes

11
More Demographic Data

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

12
More Demographic Data

• Satisfactory lab equipment and space?
• 67 yes
• Satisfactory demonstration equipment?
• 67 yes
• How did you obtain your certification?
• 86 regular teaching program
• 14 alternative certification program

13
Recommendations and Conclusions

• 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).
• Its clear that physics teachers have great
  impact on teacher recruitment, but are HS physics
  teachers doing enough? What more can we do?
• We should relate high school teaching experiences
  to careers in teaching.
• We should appeal to students sense of altruism.

14
Recommendations

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

15
Other concerns regarding response rate

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