Become a middle or high school chemistry teacher.
Do you enjoy the challenge of helping others understand chemistry, and explaining concepts like stoichiometry and atomic structure?
Our faculty are passionate about teaching and innovative in the classroom, making Ashland a great place to prepare for a career in teaching chemistry. Ashland’s science education graduates have a 95 percent placement rate.
You will pursue a curriculum that includes both a full complement of science courses (chemistry, physics, and mathematics) as well as education courses that prepare you for the classroom. Your education will be hands-on and inquiry-based and will include teaching experiences each year, culminating in a semester long student teaching internship that will allow you to practice your skills in actual science classrooms. When you graduate, you will be ready to confidently and competently bring science to life for the next generation of students.
|
What You’ll Love About the Chemistry Education Program:
- Your science and mathematics courses typically have no more than 20-30 students during your first two years and often fewer than 10 in your junior and senior years, guaranteeing you a great deal of opportunity to participate in class and get to know your professors.
- The facilities and scientific instrumentation you will use are highly advanced and state-of- the-art and you will have full access to the equipment from early in your program.
- Ashland’s teacher education program is renowned throughout the nation as excellent preparation for teachers. It has such a strong reputation in many Ohio districts that they actively seek out our graduates for employment.
- Our science education graduates are in high demand and have a >95% percent placement rate.
|
Reach Your Career Goals
- As a graduate of this program, you will be ready to successfully pass licensure tests to teach chemistry in grades 7 through 12.
- This year, our College of Education achieved a 96 percent pass rate on the state-mandated Praxis 2 exams and a 100 percent pass rate on state-mandated Praxis 3 exams.
- When you graduate from our program, you will be prepared and qualified to teach.
Career prospects grow stronger when you also earn:
- Master of Education — Available during fall and spring evening classes and both day and evening classes throughout the summer at centers in Ashland, Columbus, Elyria, Massillon and Cleveland Center.
- Master of Educational Administration — Provides you with certification in an educational administration of your choice.
- Doctor of Education — a terminal degree in the field of education
|
|
Professors Who Are Models of Teaching Excellence
- All professors in the Chemistry department have Ph.D.s and are well respected as scientists.
- Since 2007, Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhamer and his students have documented widespread contamination of children’s jewelry with lead, and provided evidence that recycled electronic waste was a source of some of this lead. This work was cited in a Congressional resolution seeking to ban the export of electronic waste by the United States. Dr. Weidenhamer was recently recognized as an Ashland University Trustees’ Distinguished Professor for this and other work. Other faculty who should be noted: Dr. Rebecca Corbin (National Teaching Award); Dr. Matt Arthur has delivered in-service programs and workshops in science education for K-12 teachers. These programs have been supported by grants from the Ohio Board of Regents, Project Discovery, and the Dr. Scholl Foundation.
- Both your education professors and science/math instructors are excellent classroom teachers who get to know students well and guide them expertly in their professional development.
- Professors in the Chemistry department enjoy mentoring students in research projects.
|
Gain Real World Experience
|
The culmination of your college education is a minimum 300-clock hour student teaching experience in a science classroom. You will also spend 300 clock hours in field experiences prior to your student teaching to give you a feel for the classroom and the expectations for teachers of middle and high school science.
|
|
Interesting Classes You May Take
- Inorganic Chemistry — Study inorganic chemistry according to periodic properties. Develop bonding theories for solid state and coordination chemistry.
- Calculus — Explore the essentials of analytic geometry, the theory and techniques of differentiation and integration with applications in business, social and natural sciences.
- Introduction to the Principles of Instructional Technology — The five main areas of focus in this course include: research, theory and history of IT; visual literacy; evaluation of IT to learning styles; and instructional computing experiences.
|
Organizations for Chemistry Education Majors
|
|
