Introduction to Physics Teaching for Science and Engineering Undergraduates

Recruiting and retaining highly qualified physics and physical science teachers is critical for maintaining\ud America's global competitiveness. Unfortunately, many high school and middle school teachers are asked to\ud teach science subjects they do not feel comfortable teaching and are not provided adequate guidance and\ud support. Moreover, teachers often lack adequate pedagogical content knowledge to teach science effectively.\ud Here, we discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of a course for science and engineering\ud undergraduates designed to increase awareness and help them develop an interest and a deeper appreciation of\ud the intellectual demands of physics teaching. The course focused on increasing student enthusiasm and\ud confidence in teaching by providing well supported teaching opportunities and exposure to physics education\ud research. The course assessment methods include 1) pre-test and post-test measures of attitude and\ud expectations about science teaching, 2) self and peer evaluation of student teaching, 3) content-based pre-tests\ud and post-tests given to students who received instruction from the student teachers, and 4) audio-taped focus\ud group discussions in the absence of the instructor and TA to evaluate student perspectives on different aspects\ud of the course and its impact