Schools in Balance: Comparing Iowa Physics Teachers and Teaching in Large and Small Schools

Authors

Trevor Kittleson, Perry High School
Jeffrey T. Morgan, University of Northern IowaFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In 2009 we surveyed all known Iowa high school physics teachers to gain insight into their educational backgrounds, instructional styles, content coverage, and available resources. Based upon a suggestion made at a subsequent presentation, we reexamined the collected data, comparing the responses of teachers from small and large schools to see if there were notable differences between the two populations. We found that teachers at larger schools teach a wider variety of physics courses, including more advanced and “physics first” style courses, and report stronger educational backgrounds in physics. While larger schools also have more financial resources allocated for physics teaching, the larger enrollments in physics courses at these schools means there is roughly the same amount of available money per student at all schools.

Publication Date

Winter 2012

Journal Title

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Volume

39

Issue

1

First Page

8

Last Page

12

Copyright

© Copyright 2012 by the Iowa Academy of Science

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Kittleson, Trevor and Morgan, Jeffrey T. (2012) "Schools in Balance: Comparing Iowa Physics Teachers and Teaching in Large and Small Schools," Iowa Science Teachers Journal: Vol. 39: No. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/istj/vol39/iss1/4