Physics and Education Interdisciplinary Major

Bowdoin's physics department has a grant from PhysTEC, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition, to support the development of highly qualified, committed, and passionate high school physics teachers.

Physics and Education

The United States has a severe, long-term shortage of qualified physics teachers.

If you love explaining how things work, giving back to the community, like young people, and want a job anywhere in the country, consider becoming a high school physics teacher with Bowdoin’s new interdisciplinary major in physics education.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Review the education department's Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program.

Step 2: The interdisciplinary physics and education major requires eleven courses in total. (Read course descriptions in the Classfinder).

  • PHYS 1130: Introductory Physics I
  • PHYS 1140: Introductory Physics II
  • PHYS 2130: Electrical Fields and Circuits
  • PHYS 2140: Quantum Physics and Relativity or PHYS 2150: Statistical Physics
  • PHYS 3010: Methods of Experimental Physics
  • EOS 1105: Investigating Earth (or higher)
  • CHEM 1092, 1102, or 1109: Introductory Chemistry II or General Chemistry (or higher)
  • EDUC 1101: Contemporary American Education
  • EDUC 2203: Educating All Students
  • EDUC 3301: Teaching and Learning
  • EDUC 3302: Curriculum Development

This fills all the course prerequisites for students to apply to the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program (BTS). The BTS program prepares recent graduates or Bowdoin seniors to become public school teachers. Once students complete the BTS program, we recommend them to the state for certification. At that point, they receive their State of Maine certification, which is reciprocal with the other forty-nine states and (Washington, DC), so they can get an initial teacher certification anywhere in the US.

Related Department

Percent of physics teachers with a physics degree
Graph: Percent of Physics Teachers With a Physics Degree (American Institute of Physics)
High School Teachers with a Physics Degree
Graph (2011): High School Teachers with a Physics Degree, American Physical Society