A Partial Solution to the High School Chemistry Teacher Shortage Davld C. Hilderbrand and W. P. Jensen South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007
A survey of high schools on Long Island revealed that by 1992 half of the current science teachers now on the job will have retired.' With the possible exceptions of parts of the Sun-Belt regions this is likely typical of the secondary science education in the United States in general. Furthermore, in our state, and we suspect in other states as well, many of the other half, those who will be on the job in 1992, have received their training in areas other than chemistry. Too often these areas are not even in the related sciences. Freouentlv. .. administrators and local school boards choose staff to fill coaching positions first and then assign science classroom duties to those new faculty. Even though this does not lead to the best qualified teachers, it is diffirult to criticile the practice when there is not an adequate pool of qualified prospective chemistry teachers anxious to step into the classroom. Solutions to this problem require innovative apnrnaches and a hieh level of commitment to flexibility of scheduling a t colleges to meet the needs of the secondary school teachers. This problem is complicated in South Dakota and other states with a large number of small rural high schools. Approximately one-half of the high schools in South Dakota have less than 100 students in grades 10 through 12. As a result, most of the science teachers have assignments in two or three of the following disciplines: chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics. In many instances in South Dakota, teachers new to the profession of teaching, hut possessing the training necessary to instruct in a given area (most often biology) find themselves in a position where they are forced by circumstances beyond their control to teach several different areas of science. All too often a single teacher is the science d e ~ a r t m e nat t a small school. New, tougher certification regulations are not the answer to this oroblem. Nomatter how well-intentioned the reasons for theregulators' actions, the effect is to place more burdens on overworked, undertrained, and underpaid people. This leads to an increased incentive to get out of the teaching profession. These teachers are willing to give up summer work to become certified hut simply do not have the time (and money) to take the necessary courses in the different science areas. In 1987 a new program was instituted a t SDSU to offer a Master of Science in Teaching degree. I t is intended for those teachers who are underprepared in the sciences and for those who are ahout to beginateaching career in the sciences but lack the background to teach science courses outside their areas of specialization. The criteria used in developing the new program were as follows: A
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1. The program should meet the needs of current individuals teaching outside their area of preparation. 2. The program must meet the standards of the university with respect to degrees offered. 3. The program must meet salary schedule advancement opportu-
nities for teachers when they return to their local school. Olney, David J. Project SERAPHIM News 1987, 21, I I.
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The -~~~oromam should be interdisciolinarv in nature. since most participanrs could he expected to need enhancement in their preparation in more than one discipline. 5. The timing of course offerings must meet the schedules of secondary school teachers. 4. ~
T o meet these criteria, a Master of Science in Teaching degree was developed and submitted for approval. The MST degree title was selected in order t o make it clear that this was a science education program rather than a science research-oriented oroeram. Whether to oker ;he program a t the graduate level or the undermaduate level was a maior ooint of discussion. I t was recog&.ed from the heginnini that some of the material to be resented would not be at the graduate level. It was also would already have a recognized that all of the bachelors degree and in many cases would have a considerable number of graduate credits. Most local school hoards will not give credit on their salary schedule for additional undergraduate credit. Thus i t became obvious that the program would fail to meet its goal of enhancing secondary school science instruction if i t were not established as a graduate program. An undergraduate program would not Drovide the ootential ~articioantswith a m d e incentive t o enroll. With the recornition of the need for the orogram to be a t a graduate level came a commitment to divelop an entirely new curriculum that would take the students a t their current level of education and quickly move them to a graduate level of understanding in a single course. Obviously, a two- or three-credit course that covers a wide range of topics is not capable of accomplishing this goal. Thus the curriculum is designed around a large number of one- and two-credit courses or sections in courses each dealing with a narrow ranee of tooical material. I t must be recomized that even thoigh mos't of the participants have had a iimited academic background in the subject area, they have had in many cases considerable experience teaching chemistry a t the secondary school level and therefore are capable of moving rapidly to more advanced concepts as soon as some of the "holes" in their education have been filled. An example of the courses developed is a one-credit course in periodic relationships. The course discusses in detail the periodic trends in physical and chemical ~ r~o ~ e r~t iand e s ~the chemical and ~ h v s i c abasis l ~ ~ ~ for these treidsl'1n this and the other requi;ed"chemistry courses, the emphasis is on the concepts rather than on teaching methodology. One of the requirements for admission is that the oartici~antshave completed an education block before starting the program. he purpose of the program is to provide the chemical bases for the secondary school educators to teach from a position of confidence and ex~ertisein their field. However, mans of the examples and ill&rations used certainly are useful to the teachers in their classrooms. The required chemistry course in the curriculum is Chemistry 701: Concepts in Chemistry (see table). This course consist of seven one- or two-credit sections for a total of 10 credits. An additional eight credits of chemistry are required from the two-credit elective courses. These courses such as ~
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Volume 66
Number 5
May 1969
427
Sample Plan of Study lor Chemlslq Majors Cwsa Title
Credits
awmiaby Majw
Atomic Snuclure Descriptive Chemiaby Consumer Ckmisby Aclds. Bases 8 Salts Stoichlomeby8 Chemical Math Sdutlons 8 Chemical Equilibrium Periodic Relationships Formulas 8 Reactions Lecture Demoostrations lnsnuctional Labs industrial Processes Physics Minw Physics Tea* Wcfkshop Mechanics I Mechanics II Thermodynamics Mamematics Minor
2
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1 2 2 1 2 1 1
2 2 2
-by
Algebra Computers in Chemiaby
Total Credits
35
industrial chemistry are more oriented to provide illustrations and information that can he used to enrich the secondary school chemistry classroom. Since d of these courses are oriented specifically toward secondary school teachers, they are not acceptable toward other degrees offered in the department. To meet the interdisciplinary needs of the participants, the program was developed as a joint coordinated program with the Departments of Physics and Mathematics. Students majoring in chemistry are required to take a minimum of six hours from the MST offerines of each of these disciplines. Students are required to tsk;?an additional five credits of electives. These mav be either from chemistw. -.mathematics, physics, hiology, or education. Biology was not originally included in the program because there is a more adequate supply of biology teachers than for the other disciplines. However, hiology is currently seeking approval to he included in the program. The following courses have been approved to be included in the program: Chemistry required courses Concepts in Chemistry Section 1Atomic Structure and Bondine" 15* 2 Periodic Relationships 14' 3 Formulas and Reactions 14. 4 Stoiehiametry and Chemical Math 6' 5 Acids, Bases and Salts I* 6 Solutions and Equilibria 7 Descriptive Chemistry ' 8 Elective courses Environmental Chemiatrv lndu'slrlal Chernlstry 5; Instrumental Chemrstry Biological Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry Organic Chemistry Alternative Enerm Lecture ~emons&ations Instructional Laboratories Consumer Chemistry 10' (Asterisks indicate courses that have been offered, along with the enrohnents.) 428
Journal of Chemical Education
Equivalent sets of courses are available in uhvsics and mathematics. The Biology Department is in the process of to add this discipline requesting special state appropriationrr .. . to the The course offerings are taught primarily on campus during the summer session. The duration of the courses is dependent upon the number of credits, but a two-credit nonlaboratorv course would tvoicallv meet five davs a week for approxikately 1%hours per da; for four weeks. Correspondinelv. the one-credit courses tvoicallv last two weeks. This fl&%le schedule allows teachiis to participate in the program during a summer. even if thev have other commitments for a portion of the summer. A few courses have been taught on Saturdays during the academic rear. Some of these have been on campus andothers at off-campus locations. It is not unusual for high school teachers to commute 125 miles each way to take these courses. This give an indication of the level of commitment that the teachers have to upgrading their education. It is not practical to offer evening courses during the academic year because of the distance that many would have to commute. Students enrolled in the program must meet the same admission standards of the maduate school as students entering other graduate progr-ams leading to an MS or MEd degree. In addition, the students must pass both a written and oral final examination. Students in other masters degree programs are usually required to pass only an oral examination. Because of the innovative approach of the program and the nature of the students involved, it is particularly important that high standards of performance he maintained. Degree Requirements 1. Minimum residence requiremeng20 graduate credits 2. credits - 3.5 total ~-~ I8 credits from major department course list 6 credits from each of the other two departments 5 credits from the fields ofhiolc~gy, chemistry,education, mathematics, or physics ~
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Course Organlzatlon Recognizing that these students are underprepared for graduate work in some of these areas, the courses are organized to begin at a content level comparable to an undergraduate-level course and quickly progress to a level appropriate to a graduate-level course. It is important to understand that these courses are more than "watered down" offerings of lower division courses. The program is organized so that participants can graduate in a three-year period by enrolling in an appropriate number of the courses each summer and taking, in addition, several of the courses that are offered during the academic year at facilities off campus located in places around the state. We are offering three to , six such courses each year. Antlclpated Outgrowths 01 the Program . 1. Recognition of the program as a teaching degree, not a research science degree. Students in the Master of Science program are not a&itted to these courses. We anticipate that educators, government administrators, and School Boards will recognize the value of MST degree holders and will reward them appropriately. 2. Better communication among the teachers jnvolved in the program and with the faculty at the University/College level. This is being enhanced by a project to network teachers with SDSU through a computer-based telecommunications network svstem. 3. Increased funding through programs such as the Title I1 secondary education science teacher improvement program, NSF, etc., for the purpose of upgrading the quality of secondary level science and mathematics teaching.
Adrnlnlstrative Structure The program is administered through a committee of science and mathematics staff members at SDSU and includes the Dean of the Graduate School. Each potential enrollee must apply by admission and be approved by each member of the coordinating committee prior to admission. Secondary school teachers may enroll in individual courses to renew their teaching certificates without being accepted into the degree program. Once admitted, students are assigned an academic advisor who works with them in planning their program. The proposed program must be approved by the department head of each of the three participating departments and by the Dean of the Graduate School. All regulations of the Graduate College apply to this program.
for related operations and maintenance needs. One of the limitations to participation in rhe program for secondary high school teachers is the cost of the tuition and the added expenses of relocation to a second home during the summer months. Although most of the participants at this rime are from South Dakota, most live from 50 to 450 miles from the South Dakota State University campus, thus making commuting on a daily basis impossible. In addition, teacher salaries in the state rank at the hottom of the scale for the 50 states. To assist in alleviating this problem, scholarship funds have been sought for the partiri~ants.TheCrav Foundation has recently awarded athree-;ear grant that will assist in covering the tuition cost for several participants. Additional sources of scholarships are being pursued.
Flnanclng At the time that the proposed degree was approved by the South Dakota Board of Regents, a commitment was made to go to the State Legislature with a request for a special appropriation to fund the program on an ongoing basis. This funding was approved and became available beginning with fiscal year 1987. Simultaneously, grant funding was obtained from Title I1 sources to support the chemistry and physics related programs before the state appropriations became available. The ongoing funding provides for salary for the faculty providing instruction during the summer session and
Conduslorm While the program is too new to evaluate the long-term impact on the secondary students in the area, initial indications are very positive. The first students will graduate this coming summer and the enthusiasm shown by the participants, SDSU faculty, and administrators is very favorable. Individual teachers are not isolated from their peers once they return to their teaching positions, as they are in contact with other science teachers and with university scientists through the Science Teachers Telecommunications Network.
Volume 66 Number 5 May 1989
429
