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Underground > Laboratory >

Teaching as a scientific path

22:09 / 05.04.07

I hemmed and hawed about starting this topic, but eventually just decided to dive in and post it.

There is a this topic on the methods of teaching, but it sort of peters out before it gets going properly and relates more to teaching method.

This topic might be a little bit pedestrian for the lab, also apologies through forethought if it's a little bare at the moment, but hopefully through further discussion the topic will grow in detail.

I'm moving through my scientific degree course (environmental science and zoology), slowly but surely and the thought of what I'm going to do when it's over has started to cross my mind.

When I picked to do this course two or so years ago, with the rather romantic and imprecise notion of becoming a "zoologist," I rather misguidedly failed to thoroughly investigate potential career options that would be obtainable, should the rather difficult to obtain (in Ireland, at least) profession of zoology remain out of grasp.

I'm semi-decided on a career in teaching biology, or a similar life science..perhaps earth science, at a secondary school level.I'm fishing for people's personal experiences to inform me of possible alternatives to straight up secondary/high school teaching, but definitely in the region of teaching people (not necessarily younger people) about science.

09:21 / 06.04.07

I'm thinking of going in to teaching myself. I would advise that you contact a school and see if you can come in and assist - there is probably a programme at your college that does this (i did one at Uni, I think it was a 10 week placement, but they were very flexible). Or you could see if there is any adult colleges near by and submit a proposal for an evening class? That way you can get a feel for it, and test your feet with adults before going into the deep end of secondary teaching!

11:05 / 06.04.07

I'd just like to say that teaching is a vocation, and can be very tough (especially secondary), and also very rewarding. I had an excellent biology teacher (who had a PhD) and that hugely influenced my career direction. That's the challenge when you're teaching secondary, especially 5th / 6th year!

I'm always jealous of environmental scientists / marine zoologists because their job ads seem so wonderful - 9-month expeditions to the Antarctic ocean, tracking whales, job titles along the lines of 'Earth Overseer'. If you'd like a career in research, just go for it. As long as you get a 2.1 and are persistant, anything's possible. But it's not for everyone, I'd recommend looking for a short-term research assistant position before jumping into a PhD.

I'm not sure how much molecular stuff is taught in your course, but for a career in research I suspect you increasingly need molecular lab expertise. If you're in Dublin, I think I've heard of links with the zoo (TCD anyway), which could lead onto a job. It might also be a good place to work for a summer... maybe in something related to teaching like giving tours, "edutainment" type stuff.. I'm not sure what might be available.

I know a few people who went on to teach after a science degree, and in fact most of them did a PhD before deciding that research was not for them, and going on to get their HDip. But that's not the only route - I would also look out for teaching posts in some of the community colleges, maybe FÁS will have some links/advice, or even positions.