Get the Facts Out
The United States has a considerable shortage of chemistry teachers in middle and high school and we need your help to reverse this trend!
50%
of chemistry majors have some interest in becoming a teacher
30%
of chemistry undergraduates reported negative perception of the choice to pursue careers in middle or high school teaching
25%
agreed with the statement that middle or high school teaching is discussed as a career option in my major department
How do we address this predicament and ensure that interested students have access to accurate information?
Become a Local Champion and get the facts out!
Get the Facts Out is an NSF-funded project designed to provide chemistry and other STEM faculty with the tools to explain and correct misperceptions with data on salary, benefits, and career satisfaction of STEM secondary school teachers.
Use the virtual toolkit of resources to share with students, colleagues, and administrators and become a local champion! The project also includes qualitative and quantitative research to evaluate optimal approaches to disseminating messaging about careers in secondary STEM teaching.
Meet the Chemistry Change Agents
ACS has appointed four change agents to help advise and shape this effort and disseminate the Get the Facts Out project.
Etta C. Gravely
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Coordinator of the Chemistry Education Program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technological State University in Greensboro, N.C.
William Hunter
Professor of Chemistry and Teaching and Learning and former Director of the Center for Mathematics, Science and Technology at Illinois State University.
Jennifer B. Nielson
Associate Dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Brigham Young University and Teaching Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the ACS Society Committee on Education.
Ellen J. Yezierski
Professor of Chemistry and the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Miami University, Chair of the Journal of Chemical Education Board of Publication for the ACS Division of Chemical Education.
What’s Happening
Career Profiles: A Tale of Two High School Teachers
By Stephanie Ryan (Chemistry GFO team member) inChemistry Magazine, March 2020
Getting the facts out about teaching chemistry as a career
C&EN Editorial, November 2019
Get the Facts Out: Faculty & Student Perceptions of K - 12 Teaching Careers
Symposium, ACS National Meeting San Diego, August 2019.
Refuting Myths about Secondary Chemistry Teaching: Getting the Facts Out to Current and Future Educators
JCE Editorial, July 2019.
ACS Supports Future Chemistry Teachers
ACS Hach Programs
Scholarships for future faculty
American Association of Chemistry Teachers
AACT is a professional community by and for K–12 teachers of chemistry. It offers a pre-service teacher membership discount.
Alternative Teacher Certification for High School Chemistry
An alternative way to become certified to teach, if you have a bachelor’s degree.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1821710 & 1821462. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
