We have created a web-based, asynchronous, interactive, Get-the-Facts-Out activity for providing students with information about the benefits of a career teaching physics.  The format enables us to provide the activity to multiple groups with minimal effort after initial implementation.  Students in the gateway, third-semester physics course and several upper-level physics courses were assigned the activity as part of the physics major/minor career curriculum, as were students in educational studies courses.   We will share preliminary data on the state of knowledge as students began the activity and on their self-reported learning and changes in attitude afterward.  

Earlier, not long after the US onset of the pandemic, we conducted a live, online, Get-the-Facts-Out presentation to faculty in all of the STEM departments and Educational Studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

The Get the Facts Out Project is an ambitious effort to change the conversation around physics, chemistry, and math teacher recruitment.  We are utilizing best practices from cognitive science, communications science, education research, and multimedia learning to create effective ways to persuade faculty to view the teaching profession with a new lens and to leave the door open to this great career option. Did you know that teachers in the United States rate their lives better than all other occupation groups, trailing only physicians? In this presentation we will share updates on our latest resources and research results including effective strategies for recruitment in a virtual world.  This project is supported by NSF DUE-1821710.

We have developed and extensively tested written and visual teacher recruitment materials as part of the Get the Facts Out (GFO) project in an effort to correct the nation’s science and math teacher shortage. First, we worked with experts to develop taglines, sentences, and other written materials based on our research on perceptions of the teaching profession. Additionally, we identified appealing photos and videos related to teaching. Next, we tested and refined these materials over two years using faculty and student focus groups at several US universities. Recently, we began collecting large-scale data via a national online survey. Our results provide insights into optimal recruitment strategies, and we will share some of our unique findings based on location, demographics, and target audience. This project is supported by NSF DUE-1821710.

Teachers in the United States rate their lives better than all other occupation groups, trailing only physicians. Despite this fact, there is a shortage of secondary math and science teachers in this country. One reason for this disparity is a lack of accurate and positive information about the profession. To correct this disparity, the Get the Facts Out (GFO) project has developed research-based, user-tested materials that provide accurate messaging about teacher happiness, autonomy, and financial well-being. As part of this project which investigates how these resources can affect the number of math and science majors who pursue grade 7-12 teaching, we have collected in-person and virtual focus group data from students and faculty members at 6 universities from around the country. These results provide insight into perceptions of grade 7-12 teaching and into how GFO resources are being used in recruitment efforts. Implications for teacher recruitment will be discussed.

Lewis University is in the first year of its PhysTEC Recruiting Grant, which is intended to help increase the number of physics teacher candidates. Lewis has a B.A. in Physics for High School Teaching Licensure and an M.A. in Secondary Education, and we have historically graduated one physics teacher per year on average. As part of this grant work, we are developing a new accelerated Bachelors in Physics to Masters in Secondary Education track. We are also modifying Get the Facts Out materials to reflect data from the Chicagoland region and are using these materials to educate faculty about high school physics teaching as a career, to recruit current majors at the University into physics teaching, and to recruit high school and community college students. This presentation will discuss these efforts, including how we have modified our recruiting plans to engage these groups remotely due to the pandemic.

This talk addresses the collection methods, plans, and preliminary baseline data for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University--a private, aeronautical-focused university that may be considered quite removed from the secondary teacher pipeline. The underlying presumption of the "Get the Facts Out" (GFO) project is that perceptions of grade 7-12 teaching impact the number of undergraduates who choose to enter that profession. Changing the conversation around the grade 7-12 teaching profession at institutions with deliberate and focused efforts to recruit, train, and prepare secondary physics teachers is, of course, of upmost importance. However, the GFO project aims to reach anyone who influences employment decisions of undergraduate students. Therefore, analysis of this and other similar institutions may help serve as a measure of general perceptions for GFO's longitudinal study.