The Iowa Board of Regents approved the creation of the new Master of Arts in Teaching-Science program at its June 17 meeting.

The program, which has taken two years to create, comes at a time when other ISU academic programs are getting cut.

However, the need for middle school and high school science teachers in Iowa is immediate, said Michael Clough, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction.

“The state of Iowa has declared a critical shortage of teachers in all science areas,” Clough said.

Joanne Olson, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, identified two reasons for the shortage: retirement and retention.

Retention of science teachers is difficult because of the demand smaller school districts put on teachers, Olson said, requiring them to sometimes teach five different subjects.

“When these teachers get calls from the industry, it’s hard to keep them,” Olson said.

The curriculum and instruction department receives large numbers of inquiries about teaching licensure, said Thomas Andre, professor and chair of the department.

“Many students graduate with a degree in science,” he said, “but are interested in coming back to be able to teach.”

Prior to this program, returning graduates seeking teaching licensure would have to enter the undergraduate program for a duration of two academic years, Clough said.

“Graduates were not interested in doing this,” Clough said.

The M.A.T. program is designed to attract and prepare science teachers, but to do so in a short period of time, he said.

Andre agreed.

“This program takes 15 months,” Andre said. “[It takes] a total of two summers and one academic year, so that it is more competitive and easier to complete.”

The idea of this program stemmed from three professors: Clough, Olson and Brian Hand, professor of curriculum and instruction.

There are several aspects of the new program which makes it unique, Clough said, such as the requirement of four sequential science methods courses.

“Other teaching education programs only require their students to take one methods course,” Clough said. “It’s not a surprise they aren’t ready to teach.”

Olson said the new program requires almost one science methods course each semester, including the semester students are teaching.

“In usual programs, student teaching is the last thing they do,” Olson said. “In this program, they start in the spring.”

She said the methods courses coupled with the field experience allows the master’s students to reflect in their student teaching.

Clough said he wants to see teaching grounded in theories.

“We want the teachers we turn out to make teaching decisions based on research, and not just by the whims of the day or how they feel that day,” Clough said.

While this program satisfies the state of Iowa’s teaching licensure requirements, Clough said this program is designed to serve as a model in teaching education.

“We are going to follow the students into their teaching,” he said. “We are going to do extensive research on what they are doing in the classroom with their kids.”