Along with overcrowded classrooms, there is the dramatic, increasing change in the student population. Classrooms of today also hold another great challenge for teachers- technology. Teachers need to be prepared to use the Internet as a teaching and research tool, and to teach their students how to use it. Teachers also need to be familiar with and learn a variety of software programs that enhance instruction. Other obstacles that teachers face include students not doing homework or being turned off to science or to school in general.
Some students have family and other problems that get in the way of schoolwork.
Inevitably, as a teacher, you will have to deal with discipline problems. Sometimes parents are not very interested in what goes on at school, and sometimes the community does not want to support adequate school budgets. They rarely get a break in the day, and if they do, it is usually to plan lessons, perform hall or cafeteria duty, or go to the restroom. For some, it is a chance to go back to school themselves or attend workshops to update their knowledge of science, to hone their teaching skills, or to renew their teaching certificates. Traveling with colleagues or scientists to such places as the Amazon rainforest or the Grand Canyon gives science teachers experiences they can later share with their students.