A science instructor provides instructions to students in science subjects. They explain and provide information regarding basic and advanced concepts in science. It is their responsibility to research for ideas and evidence to support a specific topic and explain this to students. They should also be willing to perform, set up, and give adequate explanations on science experiments. A science instructor in a college or high school setting must be able to explain complex scientific concepts, deliver clear instruction and investigative knowledge, and have good knowledge of laboratory use.
To be successful in this career, you need to be detail-oriented, effective at problem-solving, and also have excellent instructional skills. Not just this, but you must possess a degree in science education and subjects depending on the science subject you are specialized in. The average salary of a science instructor is about $51,000 per year.
How to Become a Science Instructor
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a science instructor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.58 an hour? That's $51,121 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 38,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Science Instructor Do
There are certain skills that many science instructors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, critical-thinking skills and interpersonal skills.
How To Become a Science Instructor
If you're interested in becoming a science instructor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.2% of science instructors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 20.0% of science instructors have master's degrees. Even though most science instructors have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a science instructor. When we researched the most common majors for a science instructor, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on science instructor resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a science instructor. In fact, many science instructor jobs require experience in a role such as research assistant. Meanwhile, many science instructors also have previous career experience in roles such as teacher or internship.
Science Instructor Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of instructor you might progress to a role such as lead teacher eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title center director.
Average Salary for a Science Instructor
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Science Instructors
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
5. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
7. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
8. New York University
New York, NY • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
10. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Top Skills For a Science Instructor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.6% of science instructors listed professional development on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and critical-thinking skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Science Instructor Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Science Instructor templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Science Instructor resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Science Instructor Demographics
Science Instructor Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among science instructors, 49.2% of them are women, while 50.8% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among science instructors is White, which makes up 76.3% of all science instructors.
- The most common foreign language among science instructors is Spanish at 57.4%.
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Best States For a Science Instructor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a science instructor. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Maryland, Alaska, and Rhode Island. Science instructors make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $69,438. Whereas in Maryland and Alaska, they would average $65,732 and $65,255, respectively. While science instructors would only make an average of $63,685 in Rhode Island, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Vermont
$62,067
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$63,685
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$65,255
Avg. Salary
How Do Science Instructor Rate Their Jobs?
Top Science Instructor Employers
Most Common Employers For Science Instructor
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Connecticut | $69,243 | $33.29 | 8 |
| 2 | Baltimore City Public Schools | $54,474 | $26.19 | 8 |
| 3 | Broward County Public Schools | $51,121 | $24.58 | 8 |
| 4 | Upward Sports | $51,121 | $24.58 | 7 |
| 5 | Flatiron School | $51,121 | $24.58 | 6 |
| 6 | USAF Police Alumni Association | $51,121 | $24.58 | 5 |
| 7 | Florida State University | $51,121 | $24.58 | 5 |
| 8 | Houston ISD Foundation | $51,121 | $24.58 | 5 |
| 9 | Springfield Technical Community College | $51,121 | $24.58 | 4 |
| 10 | National University of Health Sciences | $48,559 | $23.35 | 4 |
Science Instructor Videos
