The Preparation of High School Science Teachers in Iowa

The Cooperative Committee on Science Teaching published a very interesting report entitled The Preparation of High School Science Teachers. This report pointed out that many of the science teachers in America are inadequately prepared for their jobs. The writer has long felt that that was particularly true of the Iowa science teachers. He has also been disturbed by the fact that our state requirements for certification of teachers were such that one .could teach high school biology with only five semester hours of college credit. The same thing is true for chemistry and physics. On the other hand, a language teacher must have ten semester hours, a mathematics teacher ten semester hours, and a commercial teacher five semester hours for each subject taught; for example, typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping. In addition to these subject matter requirements, a commercial teacher must have two semester hours in .commercial methods. Twenty semester hours are required for physical education, twenty-four semester hours for music, and thirty semester hours for art