In our study, we consider a high school teacher who teaches at least one physics class to be a physics teacher. Since physics is often the last science course in the high school curriculum, fewer students take physics than take biology or chemistry. Thus, for some teachers physics makes up a small portion of their teaching load.
About 45% of the teachers who are teaching physics in U.S. high school teach all physics or mostly physics. About four physics teachers in 10 teach primarily nonphysics courses. The most commonly taught other courses include physical science, chemistry, math, and other science or technology courses.
Next month we will look at enrollments in and the variety of physics courses offered in U.S. high schools.
Susan White is Director of the Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics. If you have any questions or comments, please contact her at swhite@aip.org....