Archives: Board Reports

Elections Committee - #9

Associated Reports:

N/A

Report/Summary of Activities

ASTE Elections Committee Pre-Elections Communications

Ron Hermann notified all nominees who were approved by the Board that would appear on the Elections slate; Emily Dare notified all nominees that would not be appearing on the Elections slate. Prior to elections opening on Oct. 1, the Elections Committee drafted a timeline of sending out emails to the ASTE membership, basing this work on the committee’s timeline and email language from the previous year. The notifications were sent on a schedule, including information about current voting rates towards the closing of the voting window. This year, the voting window was shorted from 45 days to 30 days.

 

ASTE Elections held October 1-Oct 31

A total of 197 members, or 33% of the ASTE membership, voted in the elections.

*winner(s) of each election denoted with an asterisk below

President-Elect (1 open position) 

*John Pecore

David Sparks

Board Member at Large (2 open positions) 

*Ingrid Carter

Karl Jung

Stephen Thompson

*Amanda Townley

Elections Committee (3 open positions) 

Yohanis De La Fuenta

Jonah Firestone

*Natalie King

*Jamie Mikeska

Theresa Shume

*Jesse Wilcox

 

ASTE Elections Committee Post-Elections Communications

Ron Hermann notified all elected individuals, who agreed to serve ASTE in this capacity. Following the confirmation of elected individuals, Emily Dare notified all individuals who were not elected.

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

• Voting mechanism: The current voting mechanism allows members to vote multiple times, and current practice is to keep the last vote of any member who may end up doing this. This year we experienced some very close voting numbers for nominees. We would like to find a way to more securely capture members’ votes so there is no need to “clean up” if multiple votes are cast. One mechanism may be to use Qualtrics, which can limit an email account to one vote (or a unique URL is sent out). Other alternatives may exist.

• Increasing visibility of elections: Our voter turnout is still low (33% this year). Although the Elections Committee is testing out a new session at the 2024 ASTE conference to increase the transparency and visibility of the Elections process (see below), we would like to explicitly permit nominees to campaign (e.g., through their own social media). This may help to increase overall voter turnout. Current practice is quiet on this matter.
• Streamlining communications: This year the Elections committee sent out multiple reminders about voting during the voting period. One member counted a total of 17 ASTE listserv emails sent out during that time (we were only responsible for 5). As a committee, we are concerned about “email fatigue” and that people just delete the reminder emails. We recognize that this is a bigger issue since many important communications need to go out at the same time. Is there a better way to send out those emails - such as a weekly blast with information?

Planned Activities:

• At the 2024 Annual meeting, the Elections Committee will elect a new Chair-Elect to serve with Emily Dare, who will be moving into the Chair position.
• At the 2024 annual meeting, the Elections Committee will host a special session titled “The Roadmap to ASTE Leadership” to educate conference attendees about the Elections process and guide them through the Elections rubric. In particular, we aim to support graduate students and earlier career scholars in identifying ways to engage in ASTE and other science education organizations to improve their scores on the rubric.
• The Elections Committee plans to hold an informational webinar focused on completing nominee forms during the nomination window (Feb 15 - April 1, 2024). This will be a refresher on the special session described above.
• The Elections Committee will review and score nomination packets after the April 1 submission deadline.

Additional Files

Revisions_SOPAppendixI_08.18.23.pdf

Professional Development Committee - #14

Associated Reports:

Professional Development Committee Summer 2023

Report/Summary of Activities

Notes for PD Committee Meetings from this year can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JmgkZbHZMnUBiBsxcIJzx01orNi8ytW_t1nHrHhqUIc/edit?usp=sharing

• Review and Selection Professional Development Workshops for the 2024 ASTE Conference: Throughout the summer of 2023, ASTE workshop proposals were reviewed and selected for the January 2024 conference (Out of 13 proposals, 7 were accepted; 1 was accepted as a pre-conference workshop). This was a straightforward process and a part of the overall ASTE presentation selections. Last year there was an issue that Professional Development Workshop proposals were submitted to multiple strands besides the Professional Development strand; this year that issue has been rectified. Bev DeVore-Wedding & Michelle Schpakow (our conference PD thread co-coordinators this year) facilitated the review process.
• Syllabus Sharing Session at the 2024 ASTE Conference: The PD Committee worked with the Conference Planning Committee to organize a syllabus sharing session at the 2024 Conference.  The decision to do this was based on feedback from the post-Conference survey last winter in which members asked for a specific syllabus-sharing session during the conference. The syllabus-sharing session at the 2024 conference will be in a round-table format and each table discussion will be facilitated by a presenter who submitted a proposal and was selected by their strand to present at the annual conference.  ASTE members are invited to bring a syllabus to share and/or attend to get some new ideas for their syllabi.  Corinne Lardy and Lisa Borgerding are taking the lead on organizing this session and will preside over this session at the conference.
• Virtual Workshop: Mentor Madness: Mentor/Resident Relationships: The Professional Development Committee helped the Residencies Forum to host a virtual workshop for ASTE members on Monday October 16, 2023, by organizing registration and advertising the workshop with the ASTE membership.  Corinne Lardy attended as host and helped on the technical side of Zoom.
• 2024 Annual Conference Preview Webinar: Corinne Lardy and Kate Walker worked during the Fall 2023 semester to organize and facilitate the third annual Conference Preview Webinar for the ASTE membership, which took place via Zoom on November 7, 2023. In the past two years, this webinar has been in December. However, we intentionally held the webinar earlier this year so as to advertise for the conference before the registration deadline. The recording is available on the ASTE website and highlights the range of activities available during the 2023 ASTE International Conference, including an overview of the schedule and conference app, special events (on site and virtual), and an overview of what to expect from each of the conference strands. 15 panelists contributed to the content of the Webinar (11 were able to join the webinar live while the rest sent slides and/or video recordings for their parts of the webinar). Link to Webinar Slides (includes the names of all contributors): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bReyj8MvHTElZTduCsSE67li1hB98TJs/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118004501246810032109&rtpof=true&sd=true
• Virtual Interactive Professional Development Workshops: The new form for ASTE members to submit proposals for Virtual Interactive Professional Development Workshops went live on the website in early October and was promoted to the membership.  In this first round, two proposals were submitted and reviewed by 10 members of the PD Committee using the rubric that the committee created. The review process was coordinated by committee chair, Corinne Lardy. One of the proposals was accepted and one was rejected by the committee.  The PD Committee will discuss how this first round of call for proposals and review went when we meet in January. The next due date for proposals is March 31. The proposal form can be found on the website here: https://theaste.org/members/virtual-professional-development-workshop-proposal/

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

None

Planned Activities:

In the upcoming year, the PD Committee plans to commit more time in our meetings to discuss how the work of our committee aligns with the ASTE Strategic Priorities, to better help us plan for our next steps as a committee. We also plan to discuss the best approach to facilitating more virtual activities for the ASTE membership in between conferences, building on the work we started with the Virtual Interactive Professional Development Workshops. The PD Committee will have a new chair, Amanda Townley, beginning January 2024 when Corinne Lardy rotates off the Board.

Inclusive Science Education Forum - #17d

Associated Reports:

Annual and mid-year reports from ISEF

Report/Summary of Activities

The mission of ASTE ISEF is to enable ASTE members to improve understanding and sensitivity to human diversity. The Forum is concerned with science teacher education as it pertains to teaching science to students with disabilities and/or students whose race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender have alienated them from full participation in science. As such, the Forum acts as an umbrella group within which operate more focused interest areas, such as those listed above.  Some of the activities since our last report (June 2023) include:

1. Submitted a forum-sponsored session for ASTE 2024: Idea Sharing Session: Resources to Prepare Preservice Teachers to Work with Students with Disabilities
2. ISEF website drafted – this includes related writings, ISEF-related activities, and other resources related to the mission of ISEF.
3. Beginning in Feb 2022, a panel has been working to revise ASTE’s position statement on diversity, inclusion, and equity. ISEF co-chair Teresa Shume is a member of this panel and has been contributing to this ongoing effort.

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

None at this time.

Planned Activities:

1. Developing an ISEF forum Listserve to connect members with similar interests. 
2. Quarterly newsletters to include highlights (member profiles), resources of interest, and a “looking for” section that will allow researchers to look for collaborators with similar interests OR teaching resources/materials. 
3. Planning and will complete a forum-sponsored session at ASTE 2024: Idea Sharing Session: Resources to Prepare Preservice Teachers to Work with Students with Disabilities.
4. ISEF meeting in Spring to connect members and plan for ASTE 2025 including a forum-sponsored session and/or other activities based on member interest. 
5. Continued development and promotion of the ISEF website. 

Conference Program Coordinator - #8b

Associated Reports:

8, 8a

Report/Summary of Activities

• Site Visit in July 2023 – This was VERY helpful as I assigned rooms, etc
• Thread coordinator training in July 2023
• Reviewers assigned and proposals reviewed July-August 2023
• Acceptance notification and Conference Draft Schedule completed in Whova September 2023
• WiP Proposals solicited and reviewed by Thread Coordinators
• Attendees imported/monitored in Whova
• Final Conference Schedule October 2023
• Presider call and assigned in November-December 2023
• Ongoing communication through Whova

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

• Work in Progress – Need to ensure submission criteria and rubric match purpose of presentation, needs to be distinct from other presentations to align with the goal of a WiP presentation
• Continued confusion with reviewers and thread coordinators for Innovations or Theoretical submissions. Is there a way to more clearly delineate submissions prior to review so that folks do not get “dinged” for not having “results” for a non-research submission?
• The review “system” still leaves a lot of room for error. I am curious about the possibility of creating a recommendation form for Thread Coordinators to complete within the ASTE site rather than relying on transfer to Google Sheets (I’m thinking of something like a reviewer to associate editor to editor flow)

Planned Activities:

• Continued communication through Whova through conference
• Recruitment of incoming Thread Coordinators January - March 2024 and reviewers January – June 2024
• Thread Coordinator Appointments – May 2024
• Thread Coordinator Training - July 2024
• Reviewer Assignments – July 2024
• Confirm 2024 Conference Plan – August 2024
• To assist in managing the process for building the daily conference schedule, including concurrent sessions, meetings, and other events, these plans should be finalized much earlier in the conference program construction.
• Review Thread Coordinator Recommendations (with COPC) – August 2024
• Acceptances and Session Times to Presenters – September 2024
• Program Finalized – October 2024

Innovations in Science Teacher Education - #15b

Associated Reports:

none

Report/Summary of Activities

Publication of the July 1 and October 1, 2023, issues were successful with 3 articles and an editorial in each.  The January 1, 2024 issue is in production. We are using this issue to help with the transition to the new editors starting January 1, providing examples for training purposes.

 

To that end, we have created some procedure and how-to documents to share with the new editors to help with the transition.  An initial meeting has been scheduled to discuss procedures, processes, and timelines with them.

 

To our acceptance email, we have included a statement about joining ASTE if they are not currently a member as requested by the Membership committee.

 

We continue to see a slow rate of submissions and resubmissions of articles.  We had no articles submitted in the month of November for review and 2-3 per month prior to that which includes resubmissions. Since the COVID dip, the trend has not seemed to change in terms of submissions. We are able to do about a 5 week turn-around on manuscripts when they are sent out for review.  ERB members often continue to need an extra reminder to get their reviews submitted, but they are following through.

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

None

Planned Activities:

As mentioned above, we plan to meet with the new editors to support the transition for January 1. We will work with them to answer questions, set up meetings as needed to help them fully assume the editorship.  

International Region - #16A

Report/Summary of Activities

-Will be meeting for an annual meeting at the last ASTE annual conference

-Insufficient interest/participation to host a meeting at ESERA in Turkey in August for those in attendance

-By-laws were drafted and approved by the membership of the Region

-Webpage was updated

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

None

Planned Activities:

-Will discuss the possibility of hosting a virtual conference for the region -Need to elect an elections officer for the region at the regional meeting in NOLA -Will discuss ways to increase membership and our presence in the international science teacher education community

Far West Region - #16h

Associated Reports:

n/a

Report/Summary of Activities

The Far West planning committee met three times.  We planned two events: 1) A Fall Far West business meeting and poster presentation in person at the California Association of Science Educators (CASE) conference in October in Palm Springs and 2) A Far West Regional Conference and business meeting in Hawaii for January, 2024.  In addition, we began initial planning for the 2025 Annual International Conference to be held in Long Beach, CA.   

The Far West Fall Business Meeting was held on October 21, 2023 in person, with a zoom option. Eight members were in attendance.  Participants were reminded that we have a regional website. During this meeting, we reviewed the activities from the previous year, discussed updating avenues for communication among the membership, and continued to discuss updating the region’s mission and by-laws. We discussed the possibility of collecting dues for our region, but voted not to include dues in the by-laws. The topic of the timing of our election of the Far West Regional Director as it relates to the rotation of directors/representatives to the ASTE Board of Directors was raised. We considered including in our by-laws a statement that our regional director or a person designated by our regional director will serve as the regional representative to the ASTE board. By opening the option to a person designated by the regional director, we can simplify the problem of the two rotations not aligning. This will be voted upon in the January regional meeting. 

The Far West ASTE region has 27 due-paying members of ASTE, but our mailing list includes 54 people.  We believe that the impacts of COVID-19, and the California list of States Banned for Travel due to discriminatory legislation, decreased the numbers of people who are ASTE members.  We will reach out to the 54 members and former members on our email list and encourage them to renew ASTE memberships.  We anticipate that the presence of the 2025 Annual International Conference taking place in southern California will result in the return to a greater number of active members in our region.       

At our regional meeting in Palm Springs in October, 2023, we also hosted a poster session.  We had 12 presenters, including doctoral students. The session was well attended. Members expressed interest in doing a poster session next year, as well.    

We made plans to meet again in Fall 2024 at the California Association of Science Educators (CASE) annual conference, which will be located in Sacramento, California.  Donna Ross will again attend the CASE board meeting and request the space during the 2024 meeting for posters and a business meeting.  

A sub-committee of the region (Donna Ross, Corinne Lardy, Lisa Martin-Hansen, and Susan Zweip-Gomez) with the assistance of Kate Popejoy developed a proposal, which was accepted, for the Far West region to host the ASTE International Conference in Long Beach, CA in January 2025. At the business meeting we brainstormed possible field trip options, including a geology field trip, a visit to the shark lab, a trip to the La Brea Tar Pits, a tour of the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), a back-stage tour of an amusement park, and Movie Magic.  Our members will continue exploring these and other options.  We discussed possible themes, including the most popular, Fearless Science Education.  Also mentioned was the need for a logo and recruitment slide.   

Donna Ross (San Diego State University) began her 3-year term as the Far West Regional Director in January 2022. We will start recruitment at this January meeting (2024) for our fall election for a new Director to begin in January, 2025. At that point, Donna Ross will transition to the Past-Director role.  Corinne Lardy will remain as the region’s ASTE Board representative through January, 2024.  

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

None

Planned Activities:

The Far West Region will partner again with the Hawaii International Conference on Education (HICE), to have a Far West ASTE strand at the HICE conference in January 2024. All of the Far West ASTE sessions will be in the same room at the conference venue.  The regional conference and business meeting will take place on January 3rd, 2024.   The Far West Region will host the ASTE Annual International Conference in Long Beach in January 2025.  The hotel has been confirmed. We have action items for members including finalizing the theme for the conference; obtaining prices, transportation info, and availability of field trip options; looking for financial sponsors; drafting a 1-page overview; identifying keynote speakers; and developing or purchasing swag/stickers to pass out at the 2024 annual conference and regional conference.   

Northeast ASTE - #16e

Associated Reports:

n/a

Report/Summary of Activities

NE-ASTE Conference

On September 29, 2023, forty-one educators from the region attended the Northeast ASTE Chapter Conference virtually. The theme, Advancing Science Education for All Learners, was selected by the board to characterize the interest of the region and the field. Keynote speakers, Don Hass and Rob Ross of the Paleontological Research Institution shared their work in an address titled, “Using Earth@Home, a growing Open Educational Resource for teaching and learning about the Earth, life, and environmental sciences.”

 

The agenda for the day included three breakout sessions, one round table session, and the NE -ASTE chapter business meeting. The full agenda with sessions can be found here. Presenters included faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and high school students (e.g.  Archimedes Aerospace presentation), representing diverse voices across the field.

 

Virtual Seminar Series

 

In the Spring of 2023, NEASTE retired the Brown Bag Lunch Series, which has now evolved into the NEASTE Virtual Seminar Series. With this exciting shift, we are working to schedule 4 sessions per academic year and will now rotate the time of our events to better accommodate the schedules of those that would like to attend.

 

Our first installment of the Virtual Seminar Series was held on Thursday February 16, 2023 at 3:00pm. During this session, we were thrilled to welcome two graduate students from Stony Brook University who shared about their research. Jon Steigerwald’s talk was titled The Impacts of Science Acceleration. Zachary Richards’ talk was titled Predictors of Community College Astronomy Performance.

 

The second Virtual Seminar Series was held on Thursday May 4, 2023 at 3:30pm. During this session, we were happy to once again welcome two graduate students, Jean Hourihane and Maria Zambuto from Stony Brook University, who shared about their research. The title of their presentation was Standard Delivery: Are the Models For Delivering Elementary Science Meeting the Science Standards? Additionally, for this session, we welcomed Dr. Jacob Pleasants from The University of Oklahoma whose talk was titled Reasoning About the Technological Aspects of Societal Issues: Insights from Technology Studies.

 

We take a break in early fall from the seminar series as we hold our regional conference then. Our next installment of this series will be in December 2023.

 

Membership

In preparation for the ASTE conference the board sought to reach a greater number of members in the region. We communicated with both members and non-members on social media and email, and encouraged current members to invite new members to the conference as well as the Virtual Seminar Series. By encouraging educators of all levels to participate and present their work at the conference our goal was to provide a forum for the diverse work and voices within the Northeastern region.

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

The NE-ASTE committee seeks to partner with other regions through our Virtual Seminar Series. We hope to increase attendance at the events in the effort to share research, support early career scholars and practitioners, and allow for individuals to network across contexts.   We ask the national ASTE board to provide guidance on the best way to collaborate across regions.

Planned Activities:

The next NE-ASTE Regional meeting is planned for September 2024, to be hosted at SUNY New Paltz.   The Virtual Seminar Series continues with events planned quarterly.

Annual Editors’ Report of the Journal of Science Teacher Education (JSTE) - #15a

Associated Reports:

None

Report/Summary of Activities

In 2023 we completed our fifth full year as Co-Editors in Chief of JSTE. In this report, we present a number of outcomes and measures generated from the database of the Taylor & Francis Editorial Manager system. These items of information about JSTE cover the time frame of January 1, 2023 to November 20, 2023. As in previous years, any activity between the 21st November and 31st December 2023 will be reported on in the 2024 Report.

Items for Discussion and/or Board Action:

• JSTE Manuscript Submissions

The number of new manuscript submissions for the year to November 20^th was 230. The acceptance rate as of this date is 16.48%. Below is a summary of new manuscript submissions and a summary of final manuscript decisions by year. Year on year comparisons for Original Submissions, and Final Decisions and Acceptance Rate are shown in Figures 1 and 2 respectively.

Figure 1: Original Article Submissions Received by Year 2017-2022, 2023 Year to Date (YTD).

Figure 2: Final Manuscript Decisions and Acceptance Rate by Year 2017-2022, 2023 YTD.