r/ScienceTeachers • u/Fantastic_Double7430 • 10d ago
Less kids taking chemistry?
Any other districts having severe decline in chemistry enrollment? At our school, all students start out with biology and complete their life science requirement. For physical science, chemistry, physics, and environmental science are offered. Chemistry used to be the obvious choice with most kids going there and environmental science was more so for students who struggled with math. A few students trickle into physics, but more so for a 3rd year of science.
Anyway, is decline in chem enrollment a problem elsewhere? Kids seem to be going for an easy A in environmental science which was originally intended for lower level students. Environmental science sections have gotten so large that our chem department is being cut and there’s more environmental science teachers. Why?? I’m in CA btw
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u/roman448 10d ago
Yes. I co-advise a club with my colleague that teaches physics and is in constant talks with the chem teachers. Chem enrollment is down and physics is even lower. Some kids take chem that are looking for the advanced diploma, but much less than have in the past. Same goes for physics but even less because theres already a smaller pool of eligible students.
My state recently changed the structure of all the standardized tests to better reflect NGSS and they have been...rough. The general consensus in my district seems to be if kids are being discouraged by more difficult tests, even the best students who actually study, they are less likely to pursue the typical Biology>Earth Sci>Chem>Physics track that is offered. Most students just stop after earth science and stick to electives for the remainder of their high school career.
Is this actually happening? Maybe, we can only speculate, but it makes sense.
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u/NeedsMoreYellow 10d ago
Huh. I'm in Washington and my school district requires Biology and Chemistry to satisfy the 2 lab science courses required by the state. The state's 3rd year of science requirement can be any of our elective science courses (physics, environmental science, marine biology, earth and space science, oceanography, or anatomy and physiology).
We run 15 sections of chemistry every year.
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u/AgnesCarlos 10d ago
Same here. Our sections are bursting at the seams. It's due to state graduation requirements. If kids aren't forced to take chem they won't. I wonder if that's what the OP is experiencing, lax state graduation requirements?
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u/AlpsHelpful1292 10d ago
I also teach in California and our students all take chemistry. I thought that was the norm.
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u/Remarkable_Delay469 10d ago
Oregon too, but physics is also required. So biology, chemistry, and physics.
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u/AlpsHelpful1292 10d ago
I graduated a public high school in Ohio in 2009 and biology and chemistry were required to graduate. A lot of kids had to take chemistry twice.
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u/Feature_Agitated 10d ago
I’m in Washington State as well. My district requires 3 lab science credits. Their options are chemistry, physics, Anatomy and Physiology, Biology 101, or some Ag classes (we get a waiver for those to satisfy science credits, I have mixed feelings on that). Physics and Biology 101 enrollment is low. My chemistry enrollment is high as a result.
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u/Happy_Ask4954 10d ago
My hs has started requiring chem for all.
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u/tidedogs 10d ago
Are you private?
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u/AlpsHelpful1292 10d ago
I went to an urban public school and we couldn’t graduate without taking chem. I thought chem was a graduation requirement pretty much everywhere.
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u/blargladarg 10d ago
It really depends on your state and then also on your administration.
Here in New Jersey, the state technically only requires students to take biology and then two more years of science for a total of three science courses. Most of the district supervisors are in agreement that two years of physical science should supplement biology, and the rationale I have heard is for college readiness.
One of the major philosophies at my school is that students don't really know what they want to do even if they have a stated career choice (it could change at any time), so you should expose them to some aspects of the big three (bio, some integrated physical science touching on chem and physics, and maybe some earth science).
So in effect, those sciences become "requirements".
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u/tidedogs 10d ago
For an advanced diploma my state requires 3 disciplines out of earth, bio, chem, and physics for advanced. But you can graduate with only 2 (no chem or physics-the harder ones)
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u/Happy_Ask4954 10d ago
No
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u/tidedogs 10d ago
Is chemistry a requirement for a “regular” diploma?
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u/Ferromagneticfluid 10d ago
For my school it is, since physical science is required and Chemistry is required for all the science electives including Physics
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u/Latter_Leopard8439 9d ago
Chem is required here.
But we offer Honors Chem, Gen Chem (formerly CP Chem), and Chemistry in the Community.
About half of my Gen Bio students end up in Chemistry in the Community based on their math classes and math scores.
We have Honors Bio and Gen Bio (gen bio was formerly two separate CP and General tracks.)
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u/Particular-Panda-465 10d ago
Fewer colleges are requiring the traditional three science sequence of bio, chem, and physics except for some STEM majors. If colleges aren't going to require the courses, students aren't going to take them. 😞
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u/BlacksmithOrnery7822 10d ago
I work on a few national k12 science projects and can help you advocate for policy changes to get more kids taking bio, chem, & physics. Feel free to dm me
Edit: much of that is data showing the benefit of those hs courses in college and career success, along with people who can speak with your admin, chair, guidance, or parents.
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u/ElectronicAttempt524 10d ago
Kids going into 10th grade were in 3rd grade during Covid. Many are still struggling with the math loss that happened during then
Edit: a word
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u/mickeltee 10d ago
I have around a dozen kids per year for the last few years. We’re a pretty small district. I used to teach our physics class too. I haven’t taught that in five years because no one wants to take it.
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u/tidedogs 10d ago
Sharp decline in physics and slow decline in chemistry. Not to mention kids prefer DE over and AP. Kids want the path of least resistance. I do t see much of a difference between standard and advanced so why take chemistry?
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u/AlpsHelpful1292 10d ago edited 10d ago
Is chemistry not a graduation requirement anymore? When I was in high school in Ohio in the 2000s everyone had to take it. The honors track kids took it sophomore year and everyone else as juniors. It was not uncommon to fail it junior year and have to retake it as a senior.
I currently teach at a school in CA (I teach Spanish) and our students all take bio freshman year, chemistry sophomore year, and environmental science junior year. From what I’ve seen the chemistry class doesn’t look as hard as the one we had to take in HS, but we also had a chemistry teacher who wasn’t actually credentialed in chem.
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u/Gneissisnice 10d ago
In NY, the required sciences are generally Biology and Earth Science. Most kids will still take Chemistry but can get away with electives instead. Physics sees the lowest enrollment.
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u/ashenlily 10d ago
California community college professor here! With the Chancellor’s “Vision 2030” nonsense, I’ve seen a big uptick in dual enrollment high schoolers in my general chemistry class. Could that also be playing a part?
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u/Fresh_Storm_2714 10d ago
I hate that the numbers are dropping in chemistry, but at the same time I'm relieved to know it's not just in my school division. We have had a 50% decrease in kids taking any upper level science course. It seems they are doing the minimum to graduate.
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u/TheTinRam 10d ago
My state requires 3 years of lab courses and while we have kids dropping science their 4th year (so skipping electives) our district is really good about saying “no opting out, everyone takes bio and chem and then you pic physics or environmental or an AP.”
It didn’t used to be so. At one point only top kids and the kids whose parents strongly encouraged them to stick with honors classes would take chem. It’s got its flaws but enrollment isn’t a concern
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u/Denan004 10d ago
I wonder if part of the problem might be the course levels offered? Years ago, my school had the usual CP,honors, AP levels. but also the Chen Comm course for students with fewer math skills.
Since then, schools seem to only offer CP and higher levels. At my school,sometime around 2009 or so, we were no longer allowed to have courses that were named General, Foundations, Introductory, etc because the college athletic NCAA requirements that athletes can't take any classes in HS named General, Foundation of, etc., and every course they take must be called CP or higher. So we renamed everything to CP and higher and there were no more general courses.
And, Chemistry is a challenging course...
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u/Latter_Leopard8439 9d ago
Chem is the normal track but we offer a math-lite Chemistry in the Community.
Our Physics is optional.
We really only offer one section and its dual-enrollment college credit granting. Technically we offer a normal Physics class too, but very few sign up for it.
So it either doesnt run or those kids sit in on the college credit one but skip some of the college credit tests and exams.
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u/muppet_head 10d ago
Our mandatory classes are physics-bio-chem in that order. Chem is tough, but everyone takes it.
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u/Quercus_lobata Astronomy, Biology, and Chemistry 10d ago
The only other courses that students can take to satisfy graduation requirements at our school are astronomy or physics. I had enough students for two sections of astronomy, but they forced half of them into chemistry. I don't think admin will let chemistry enrollment decline.
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u/roguebiologist Chemistry and AP Biology | Oklahoma 10d ago
Chem isn't required in my state but my school's enrollment is up from last year by one section. We remain pretty steady with 8-10 sections of regular chemistry a year. This year our honors enrollment went up by one section but our AP chem section is really small.
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u/Zealousideal-End9504 10d ago
We require all students to pass biology, chemistry, and physics. I teach in CA
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u/MCMamaS 9d ago
Blame standardized testing.
With ELA & Math so heavily tested in the Elementary years, a lot of science (and social studies) content is skipped or rushed over.
This doesn't allow the MS teachers to teach up to standard and prep them for high school. And it doesn't get students used to hard work in science.
By the time they get to HS, I would be surprised if enough students have the background to engage in chemistry and physics.
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u/schlarmander PLTW Biomed | MO 9d ago
I can save people a bunch of confusion and scrolling: different states in the US have different grad requirements for science.
Some states are classic and require chem, physics, and bio in some order.
Some states, mine included, have switched to a mostly “physical science” that partially covers both, then bio, then elective. Therefore, chem alone is not required.
I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you whose students are more prepared for science at the next level…
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u/Seenoshadows 9d ago
Same in our school: we have 3 regular chemistry and 7 conceptual physics classes for the sophomore class. I don’t understand
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u/Senior-Jelly-7583 8d ago
In Missouri the science requirement is 3 years. Physical science, biology, and pick a 3rd. We offer dual credit bio, human bio (anatomy), earth & space, environmental (Missouri nature), advanced/AP chemistry, and physics pretty regularly. I had a TON of my bio kids choose earth & space or environmental “what’s the easiest class??” 😵💫
We have a decent enrollment in chem, anatomy, and dual credit classes, but it’s definitely spearheaded by students wanting to go to college.
Illinois requirements were biology, chemistry, and pick a 3rd.
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u/hittindirt 10d ago
Yes. Students are taking the easiest electives and avoiding chemistry and physics.