Recruiting Science Majors into Secondary Science Teaching: Paid Internships in Informal Science Settings

Abstract

Despite the importance of recruiting highly qualified individuals into the science teaching profession, little is known about the effectiveness of particular recruitment strategies. Over 3 years, 34 college science majors and undecided students were recruited into paid internships in informal science settings to consider secondary science teaching as a career. Analysis of interns’ subsequent career plans revealed the internships were not effective in recruiting the interns into the secondary science teacher education program, although many interns thought they might consider becoming teachers later in their lives. Reasons for not pursuing teaching included continued indecisiveness, inflexibility of required plans of study, and concerns about teachers’ pay and classroom management.

Keywords:

• Recruitment
• Internship
• Secondary science teachers
• Informal science

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program Award #0934839.