How to become Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in 2024

Physics Teachers, Postsecondary Teach courses pertaining to the laws of matter and energy. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Physics Teachers, Postsecondary is Also Know as

In different settings, Physics Teachers, Postsecondary is titled as

  • Adjunct Professor
  • Assistant Professor
  • Associate Professor
  • Instructor
  • Physical Science Professor
  • Physics Instructor
  • Physics Lecturer
  • Physics Professor
  • Professor
  • Science Instructor

Education and Training of Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

Physics Teachers, Postsecondary is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Education Required for Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Degrees Related to Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

Training Required for Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in different industries are

What Do Physics Teachers, Postsecondary do?

  • Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as quantum mechanics, particle physics, and optics.
  • Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
  • Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
  • Supervise students' laboratory work.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
  • Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
  • Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
  • Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
  • Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
  • Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
  • Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
  • Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.
  • Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and laboratory equipment.
  • Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
  • Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
  • Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
  • Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.
  • Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.
  • Act as advisers to student organizations.
  • Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.
  • Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.
  • Participate in campus and community events.
  • Maintain and repair laboratory equipment.

Qualities of Good Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Tools Used by Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

  • Analytical ultracentrifuges
  • Carousel slide projectors
  • Circular dichroism CD spectrometers
  • Compact digital cameras
  • Compact disk CD players
  • Computer data input scanners
  • Computer laser printers
  • Concave mirrors
  • Conference telephones
  • Convex mirrors
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital calculators
  • Digital video cameras
  • Digital video disk DVD players
  • Far infrared FIR lasers
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
  • Handheld microphones
  • Holography equipment
  • Interactive whiteboard controllers
  • Interactive whiteboards
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser facsimile machines
  • Laser systems
  • Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
  • Liquid crystal display LCD televisions
  • Microcalorimeters
  • Microphone podiums
  • MP3 digital voice recorders
  • Multi-line telephone systems
  • Multimedia projection equipment
  • Non linear effects equipment
  • Nuclear counting equipment
  • Opaque projectors
  • Optically pumped molecular lasers
  • Overhead data projectors
  • Photocopying equipment
  • Poster printers
  • Projector screens
  • Stopped-flow fluorimeters
  • Student response systems
  • Tablet computers
  • Television monitors
  • Video projectors
  • Videoconferencing equipment
  • Webcams
  • Wireless microphones

Technology Skills required for Physics Teachers, Postsecondary

  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Blackboard Learn
  • C
  • C++
  • Calendar and scheduling software
  • Collaborative editing software
  • Computer aided design CAD software
  • Course management system software
  • Desire2Learn LMS software
  • DOC Cop
  • Edmodo
  • Email software
  • FFTPACK
  • FFTW
  • Formula translation/translator FORTRAN
  • Geant4
  • GIPSY-OASIS
  • GNU Octave
  • Gnuplot
  • Google Docs
  • Gravitation software
  • Image scanning software
  • iParadigms Turnitin
  • LAPACK
  • LaTeX
  • Learning management system LMS
  • Maplesoft Maple
  • Mathsoft Mathcad
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • OriginLab Origin
  • Pascal
  • Perl
  • plotutils
  • PLplot
  • Sakai CLE
  • Synergy Software KaleidaGraph
  • The MathWorks MATLAB
  • VASP Data Viewer
  • Visual Molecular Dynamics VMD
  • Web browser software
  • Wolfram Research Mathematica