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Somepeopleseemtobelievethateveryonetakesphysicsinhighschool.Othersbelieve

thatveryfew takephysicsinhighschool.Thetruth,asitoftenis,issomewhereinbetween.

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Thesedata,andmostofthedatausedinthistalk,arefromourNationwideSurveyofHigh

Schoolphysicsteachers.Tocollectourdata,wefirstcontactprincipalsatanationally

representativerandomsampleofallpublicandprivatehighschoolsintheUSwhetheror

nottheyofferphysics.Iftheyofferphysics,weaskforcontactinformationforthephysics

teachers.(Inthemostrecentsurveyin200809,wecontacted~3,400schoolsandreceived

responsesfrom99%+oftheprincipals.Wethencontacted~4,000teachersandreceived

responsesfrom~62%.Previousyearshavesimilarresponserates.)

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Thisgraphallowsustoseethegrowthintotalenrollments.Notethatthedarkblue,which

represents regularphysics,hasbeenfairlystablesince1987. Thenextgraphwillshow

theproportionoftotalenrollmentbytypeofclass.

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Even thoughenrollmentinregularphysicsclasseshasbeenfairlystableat~500K

students,itrepresentsashrinkingproportionofthetotalnumberofphysicsstudents.

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Thetotalsdonotaddupto100%becausesomeschoolsofferphysicsinalternateyears.

Thenumber of gradeshousedinoneschoolvaries.Forexample, somesmallerschoolsina

ruralareamighthousegradesK 12,andalargeurbanschoolmighthouseonlygrades9

12.So,weclassify schoolsbythenumberofseniorsenrolled.

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Eventhoughtherearealargenumberofsmallerschools,theyrepresentasmallerfraction

ofthetotalnumberofseniors.

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Thedatafor allscienceteachersisfromtheNationalCenterforEducationStatisticsinthe

USDepartmentofEducation.Thedataforphysicsteachersisfromoursurvey.

Pleasenote:weconsideranyteacherwhoteachesatleastoneclassinphysicsinaUShigh

school

to

be

a

physics

teacher.

Some

physics

teachers

teach

a

majority

of

their

classes

inotherdisciplines.

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Irunacross expertsstatementslikethisonetoooften.So,isitafactoramyth?

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Itsamyth.The bloggerisnotanexpertintheacademiccredentialsofhighschool

physicsteachers.Ihavepostedthecorrectdatainthecommentssectiononthissite.

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Wedonotdoublecount.Weask teachersabouttheirbachelors,mastersand

doctorates.Wefirstlookforamajorinphysicsatanylevel.Wethenremovetheteachers

whohaveaphysicsmajorsandlookforphysicseducationmajorsintheremainingpoolof

teachers.Wecontinueremovingteachersastheyareclassified.Itispossiblethatthe

physicsmajorsalsohaveamajororminorinphysicseducation,anditispossiblethatthe

physicseducationmajorshaveaminorinphysics.However,wedonotdoublecount.

Pleasenote:weconsideranyteacherwhoteachesatleastoneclassinphysicsinaUShigh

schooltobeaphysicsteacher.Somephysicsteachersteachamajorityoftheirclasses

inotherdisciplines.

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The44%ofteachers whohaveamajororminorinphysicsorphysicseducationteachover

50%ofthestudentstakingphysicsinhighschool.Whatabouttherestofthestudents?

Whoteachesthem?(Seethenextslide.)

Please

note:

we

consider

any

teacher

who

teaches

at

least

one

class

in

physics

in

a

US

high

schooltobeaphysicsteacher.Somephysicsteachersteachamajorityoftheirclasses

inotherdisciplines.

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So,about 85%oftheteachershaveascience,technology,engineering,ormath(STEM)

degree,andtheseteachersteachalmost90%ofthestudents.

Pleasenote:weconsideranyteacherwhoteachesatleastoneclassinphysicsinaUShigh

school

to

be

a

physics

teacher.

Some

physics

teachers

teach

a

majority

of

their

classes

inotherdisciplines.

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Welookedatminorsforteacherswho didnothaveamajorinaSTEMarea.Thisleaves

~10%oftheteacherswhoteach~10%ofthestudentswithnomajororminorinaSTEM

area.Wedohavedataforphysicsclassestheseteachershavetaken,butwehavenothada

chancetoexamineityet.

Pleasenote:weconsideranyteacherwhoteachesatleastoneclassinphysicsinaUShigh

schooltobeaphysicsteacher.Somephysicsteachersteachamajorityoftheirclasses

inotherdisciplines.

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Thesedataaretaken fromoursurveyofphysicsdegreerecipients.Wecontactallphysics

departmentsandaskforthenamesandcontactinformationforstudentswhohave

completeddegrees.

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Thesedataaretakenfromoursurveyofphysicsdegreerecipients.Notallstudentswho

earnagraduatedegreeinphysicsholdabachelorsdegreeinphysics, sothesenumbers

differslightlyfromthoseonthepreviousslide.

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Thank you!

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