Undergraduate Bulletin - Illinois Institute of Technology

Physics
Physics Education
Department Website: www.iit.edu/csl/phy
According to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science
and Technology, “The most important factor in ensuring
excellence is great STEM (science, technology, engineering,
and math) teachers, with both deep content knowledge
in STEM subjects and mastery of the pedagogical skills
required to teach these subjects well.” However, based on
recent statistics from the National Taskforce on Teacher
Education in Physics, two thirds of our nation’s high school
physics teachers do not have a degree in physics. IIT’s
Bachelor of Science in Physics Education answers these
needs by providing deep grounding in both physics and in
the pedagogical knowledge to teach physics, thus setting
the IIT student apart from other prospective teachers.
Students in this program will have all the benefits of
studying with IIT’s Physics department including small
class size, close relationships with faculty, and the opportunity
to conduct research at nearby facitlities such
as Argonne National Lab and Fermi National Accelerator
Lab. In addition, students take classes, including a
classroom internship, with IIT’s Mathematics and Science
Education department, a global leader in teaching and
learning of the sciences. Upon completion of this degree
program, students receive certification to teach high school
science in Illinois and will have the necessary skills to fulfill
certification requirements in other states.
Ideally students will choose the physics education track
at the end of their second year and begin taking science
education courses in their third year after having completed
the general physics and modern physics sequence.
An alternate route available to students is to first complete
the requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree
in Physics and then teaching certification requirements.
This alternate path would take longer to complete than
eight semesters.
Bachelor of Science in Physics Education
Required Courses
Credit Hours
Physics Requirements 43
PHYS 100, 123, 221, 223, 240, 300, 304, 308, 309, 348, 405, 413, 427, 485
Mathematics and Science Education Requirements 24
MSED 200, 250, 300, 320, 350, 400, 450
Mathematics Requirements 21
MATH 151, 152, 251, 252, 425
Interprofessional Projects 6
Chemistry Requirements 8
CHEM 124, 125
Biology Requirement 3
BIOL 107 or 114 or 115
Computer Science Requirement 2
CS 105
Humanities and Social Sciences Requirements 21
For general education requirements, see page 25.
Total Hours 128
134