This has been ongoing since I began teaching in the early 1980s.
I have a collection of articles in JCE, The College Science Teacher, The
Chronicle of Higher Ed, et al. that have rued this trend.
And what's the result?
You see it still.
Chemistry teachers with no even rudimentary knowledge of descriptive chemistry!
JCE presently publishes few articles on laboratory experiments and descriptive
chemistry.
New teachers cannot even find guidance there.
What's to be done?
Too few BS, BA chemistry teachers; too many schools!
Can the American Association of Chemistry Teachers and NEACT help?
WCK
-----Original Message-----
From: Charles J McDonald <cjmcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: neact <neact@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, May 14, 2018 8:58 am
Subject: [neact] Re: Some follow-up to 17 students
I see a lot more of these lab accident oriented stories of late.
Are they actually increasing of is it just the reporting that is
increasing?
In order to teach Chemistry in Mass and RI - and I would hope all states - you
need a BS in Chemistry at the minimum.
I know that’s not true everywhere and as the shortage of science
teachers grows, could the use of Teach-for-America and other similar
teacher-replacement programs exacerbate this problem?
I’m concerned that the erosion of the teaching profession, in general, is going
to severely impact science education in this country.
— Chuck
