Call for Proposals

2024 ASTE Annual Conference
January 10-13, New Orleans, LA

The ASTE Annual Meeting takes place in January of each year, and provides an opportunity for our membership to engage with current research, policy, and practice and to promote improvements in science teacher education.

We are excited to announce the Call for Proposals for the 2024 ASTE Annual Conference: Building an ethos of care and inclusion in science teacher education.

Table of Contents

Conference Theme
Conference Planning Committee
Conference Threads
Session Formats
Proposal and Submission Guidelines
Proposal Rubric
Conference Volunteers

Conference Theme

Building an ethos of care and inclusion in science teacher education

Given the erasure of the experiences of certain historically excluded students in K-12 schools and universities, our research, teaching, and advocacy are more critical than ever to promote inclusive science learning experiences. This conference will focus on current collaborative efforts and explore new innovations to ensure that all students can develop a sense of belonging and success in the science classroom.

Keynote Address

Eliot Schrefer

Author of Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality, 2023 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book

https://www.nsta.org/ostb23

Title: Animal Sexuality: What is natural, and who defines it?

Abstract: Limited awareness of the diversity of sexual expression in the animal kingdom has led to longstanding assumptions about what constitutes natural behavior in human beings—with real world consequences that are playing out in schools today. Drawing from his own life experiences as a gay man who drew comfort as a high-schooler through the lessons of evolutionary biology, and his extensive research as the author of 2023 Printz honor book Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality, Eliot Schrefer introduces us to the explosion of research over the last three decades into same-sex sexual behavior in animals, and examines what it means for our students’ conceptions of what the scientific process looks like, and the importance of having a diversity of scientists in the field.

ASTE Conference Planning Committee

Conference Planning Committee Chair, Lisa Borgerding
Local Conference Chairs: Jennifer Stark and John Pecore
Program Coordinator, Kelly Feille
Graduate Student Member, Elizabeth McMillan

Ex Officio Members:
ASTE President, Andrea Borowczak
Director of Electronic Services, John Rhea
Equity Committee Representative, Drew Gossen
Executive Director, Kate Popejoy

Local Planning Team:
Stacey Britton, University of West Georgia
Gina Childers, Texas Tech University
Josh Ellis, Florida International University
Rachel Gisewhite, The University of Southern Mississippi
Melanie Kinskey, Sam Houston State University
Shana Lee, Mississippi State University
Samanthia Noble, Texas Tech University
Maria Wallace, The University of Southern Mississippi
Christi Whitworth, Texas Tech University

Conference Threads

The ASTE conference is organized by ‘Threads’ that bring together sessions and topics related to a variety of member interests. Our current Conference Threads and Chairs are listed below.

College & University Science Education: Proposals for this strand will address issues such as conceptual change, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, etc. that are pertinent to higher education science faculty who work with science teachers or science teacher educators, community, and after-school programs.
Chairs: Lu Wang and Amanda Townley

Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Assessment: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for current and future science teachers as used by science teacher educators and in science departments.
Chairs: Yohanis De La Fuente and Danielle Scharen

Educational Technology: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about technology use and training for present and future science teachers as used by science teacher educators.
Chairs: Joshua Ellis and Jonah Firestone

Equity & Diversity: Proposals for this strand will foreground and critically examine issues of equity, inclusion, and diversity that are central to science teacher education, science education, and science.
Chairs: David Steele and Seema Rivera

Ethnoscience and Environmental Education: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about culture, diversity and environmental education for current and future teachers.

Chairs: Sarah Carrier and Michelle Forsythe

History, Philosophy, and Nature of Science: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice, theory or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about history, philosophy and the nature of science (not limited to science practices) for current and future science teachers.

Chairs: Alex Sobotka and John Pecore

Informal/Out-of-School Science Education: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about informal science education for current and future science teachers.

Chairs: Sara Heredia and Michael Dentzau

Policy, Advocacy and Reform: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice, white papers, position statements or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about policy and reform and how each impacts science teacher educators and education.
Chairs: Carrie-Ann Sherwood and Iliana De La Cruz

Preservice Science Teacher Preparation-ELEMENTARY: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about science teacher preparation programs.

Chairs: Rebekah Hammack and Karthigeyan Subramaniam

Preservice Science Teacher Preparation-MIDDLE/SECONDARY: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about science teacher preparation programs.
Chairs: Su Gau and Elizabeth Edmonson

Science Teacher Professional Development-ELEMENTARY: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about science teacher professional development.

Chairs: Karl Jung and Stephen Thompson

Science Teacher Professional Development-MIDDLE/SECONDARY: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about science teacher professional development.

Chairs: David Sparks and Angela Webb

STEM Education: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about STEM education, our understanding of what STEM means and the National Standards for STEM for future and current science teachers.

Chairs: Jacob Pleasants and Anne Gatling

Student Learning P-12: Proposals for this strand will be in the form of practice or research pieces that inform science teacher educators about the relationship between student learning and current and future science teachers.

Chairs: Richard Lamb and Jennifer Oramous

Concurrent Session Formats

There are several different session formats featured at our annual conference on a regular basis. Proposals should indicate the relevant format for the proposed session.

Individual Paper Presentation: Each one-hour session consists of three individual papers related to the same thread as determined by the conference chairs. Each presenter will discuss a research study, philosophical viewpoint, position, or innovative idea. The session presider will manage the time and facilitate the transition from one presenter to the next. (20 minutes per presenter)

Themed Paper or Poster Set: Each one-hour session consists of a group of presentations related to a common theme as determined by the authors. The proposals must be submitted as a group to be considered as a single themed session. Each presenter will discuss research, a philosophical viewpoint, position, or innovative idea. A discussant may be chosen by the group submitting the themed paper set, but will not be provided by ASTE. Authors will need to determine how to use the allotted time.

Individual Poster Presentation: Each presenter will prepare and display a visual representation of research (completed or in-progress), issue, or practice related to science teacher preparation. Appropriate displays include posters or other creative formats. Presenters will participate in one-on-one conversations about their displays during the formal poster session.

Small Group Roundtables: Each (one-hour) session offers the opportunity for participants to share and discuss creative pedagogy, issues and trends, culture, history, and research in an intimate and informal manner. Presenters will be paired with two to five presenters with papers on a similar topic. A presider will allow each presenter to provide a brief synopsis (5-7 minutes) and then allow time for table group discussion to share perspectives on the issues presented. Audience members may circulate among tables throughout the session.

Syllabus Sharing: This format has been designed for the purpose of sharing science education syllabi. Presenters should include evidence of outcomes or student learning to support the course activities and assessments. To submit a syllabus, select all the appropriate descriptors for this course. These presentations will be grouped into a single poster session. *Syllabus sharing does not apply to the limits on first authorship.

Professional Development for Science Teacher Educators (Workshops): Opportunities are embedded within the conference schedule (same time as concurrent sessions) for one-hour engagement in sessions designed to provide professional development for science teacher educators on a variety of topics related to teaching, research, and career growth/development.

Exploratory Session: This session type is intended to elicit the creativity of our membership to share innovative ideas in innovative ways. Do you envision something relevant to the ASTE membership that doesn’t quite fit a workshop or other format above? Propose this type of format to engage members in a 1-hour session on a topic of your choice. *Keep in mind that this is an “alternative” session type. Attendees will be coming to your session expecting a different experience in some noticeable way. Don’t approach the planning the same way you would any other format, and make sure they leave feeling like it was correctly labeled as an exploratory session.

Proposal and Submission Guidelines

Submission Process and Deadline

To receive full consideration, proposals must have been submitted and any edits must be completed by midnight, Pacific Daylight Time, the night of July 10, 2023. Any proposal submitted after that date will only be considered if space and time permit.

To submit your proposal, visit: https://theaste.org/meeting/proposal-submission/

Please Note: The person submitting the proposal/the user logged in when the proposal is submitted will have the ability to edit the proposal prior to the start of reviews and will be the one who can see acceptance/rejection information. The first author will only have these capabilities if they are also the one who submitted the proposal.

Proposal Requirements & Author Limitations

Proposals submitted for presentations at the ASTE Annual Conference MUST be original work that has not been / will not be presented at any other conference (e.g., AERA, ASERA, NARST, EASE, ESERA). In addition, authors are limited to being:

First author on only one stand-alone paper or a paper within a related paper set.
First author on only one interactive poster paper.
First author on only one roundtable.
Presenter in only one symposium.
Secondary author on any number of stand-alone, related paper set, and/or interactive poster papers.
Workshops are exempt from author limitations.

Guidelines for Preparing Your Proposal

Proposals should be single-spaced with 1” (2.54cm) margins on US Letter size (8.5” by 11”) and use fonts no smaller than 12pt. Proposals for all session types, except themed paper/poster sets, should be no more than 5 pages in length. Themed paper/poster sets should be submitted as a single proposal of no more than 10 pages. References, tables, and figures do NOT count toward your page limit and should adhere to APA format. All proposals should be blinded for review, utilizing pseudonyms for names of authors and other identifying information (location, name of program, etc.) and submitted as a PDF file.

Program Abstract – Please include a brief description (no more than 350 characters including spaces) that will appear along with your title in the program.

Proceedings (Full) Abstract – Please provide an abstract (no more than 2100 characters including spaces) that will be included in the conference program proceedings.

Proposal Body – Your session proposal should address the following:

Identify the challenge or issue within science teacher education that your presentation addresses.
Describe your theoretical or conceptual framework and describe the work you have been doing to address the challenge or issue you have indicated. If this is a research study, then supply some findings.
Explain your findings and/or the information you will present to those in attendance.
Justify your presentation’s contribution to the knowledge base for science teacher education.
Identify who within the ASTE membership would be most interested in your presentation (e.g., methods instructors, educational researchers, curriculum developers, etc.) and what you expect for them to learn from this presentation.
Provide a comprehensive reference list.

Proposal Rubric

Submitting a Workshop? Workshop Rubric

All proposals for the annual meeting are reviewed by at least two proposal reviewers, using the rubric criteria below. The criteria are designed to address diverse submission types (e.g., research studies as well as position papers or descriptions of innovative programs or practices).

REVIEW CRITERIA (1=inadequate to 5=superior)

Clear focus/problem: The proposal has a clear focus and/or addresses a problem that is timely and significant to science teacher education.
Theoretical or conceptual framing: The research study, philosophical viewpoint, position, or innovation described in the proposal is grounded in a conceptual or theoretical framework and in the research base for science teacher education.
Methodology/Design (for research study) or Organization/Quality (for other presentation types):For research studies, the work is based on sound methodology and research practices.
- For philosophical viewpoints, it is clear how the logic and coherence of arguments is tied to the theoretical or conceptual framework.
- For position papers, the position is well-grounded in the existing literature and considers multiple perspectives and arguments.
- For innovations, there is a clear connection to the theoretical or conceptual framework and pedagogical perspective of the authors.
- For workshops, explain who within the ASTE membership would be most interested in your presentation, the expertise/experience of the workshop presenters, the learning objectives, and a description of the workshop activities and instructional strategies that will be used.
Findings/Conclusions (if research study), Contributions (for philosophical viewpoints, position paper, or innovations), and Evaluation/Support (for workshops): The work contributes to the knowledge base in science teacher education either through using evidence to answer one or more research questions, articulating a philosophical viewpoint, synthesizing the existing literature and the implications for practice, and/or by providing evidence of the effectiveness of an innovation.
For a workshop, please describe how you will assess whether participants have met the learning objectives and how you will offer support to participants for continuing their learning/collaboration after they return to their home institutions.
Relevance to science teacher education: The proposal is relevant to the mission of ASTE to advance policy and/or practice through scholarship, collaboration, and innovation in science teacher education.
Interest to the ASTE membership: The proposal session has implications for the work and interests of the ASTE membership– including science teacher educators in a variety of roles, and contexts (e.g., preservice/ inservice or formal/ informal).

Workshop Rubric

ASTE Professional Development Workshop Proposal Rubric

Please rate the proposal using the following criteria: 1=poor, 3=good, 5=excellent
Criterion	1	3	5	Score
Clarity of focus on science teacher education	Purpose of the workshop unclear and/or not relevant to science teacher education.	Purpose of the workshop lacks clarity and/or is of limited relevance to science teacher education.	Purpose of the workshop is clear and relevant to science teacher education.
Relevance to ASTE membership	Workshop is likely to be of interest to few ASTE members.	Workshop is likely to be of interest to a moderate number of ASTE members.	Workshop is likely to be of interest to a large portion of the ASTE members (broad appeal).
Expertise of Presenters	Presenters lack the necessary experience or expertise to achieve the workshop goals.	Presenters have relevant experience or expertise related to the goals of the workshop.	Presenters have the necessary experience and expertise to achieve the goals of the workshop.
Learning Objectives	Objectives are inappropriate and/or unlikely to be met in the workshop format/time allotted.	Objectives are appropriate but may be difficult to achieve in the workshop format/time allotted.	Objectives are appropriate and achievable for the workshop format/time allotted.
Content of the proposed workshop	Workshop activities are not appropriate to the topic and/or do not reflect best practices.	Workshop activities are somewhat appropriate to the topic and reflective of best practices.	Workshop activities are appropriate to the topic, high quality, and instructional strategies reflect best practices.
Availability post-workshop	Availability to participants after the workshop is not fully described or perfunctory (e.g., provide email to participants to contact presenters).	Presenters have a plan to provide support for participants in applying what they learned in the workshop.	Presenters offer a clear plan for continued support and availability to participants post-workshop that will foster ongoing learning and collaboration.
Diversity and Equity Focus	Workshop activities are not appropriate to diversity and equity topics and/or do not reflect best practices.	Workshop activities are appropriate to diversity and equity topics and/or reflect best practices.	Workshop activities are appropriate to diversity and equity topics, high quality, and/or reflect best practices.
Strength of proposal:
Weakness of proposal:
TOTAL SCORE =

Conference Volunteers

ASTE members play a vital role in making our annual conference a success! Please consider serving our association in one of the volunteer roles below. You must be a current (2023) member to be appointed to these positions.

Thread Coordinators

Thread coordinators are appointed for a 2-year term. They work with the ASTE Program Coordinator to build the conference program by evaluating proposal reviews for their assigned conference thread, and making a final recommendation based on that to accept/reject proposals to the annual meeting. They also suggest ways that accepted proposals might be grouped to create coherent sessions. Most of the Thread Coordinators’ work takes place in late July to mid-August, and is conducted remotely.

Proposal Reviewers

Proposal reviewers are appointed annually to review proposals submitted to a particular conference thread using the review criteria as specified in the Call for Proposals. Reviews are managed online through the ASTE website, and are submitted electronically. Reviewers typically are responsible for reviewing 6-8 proposals, depending on the number of submissions and number of reviewers.

Session Presiders

Session presiders help ensure our annual meeting runs smoothly and is a positive experience for both presenters and attendees! Presiders identify and welcome the presenters to the assigned session, assist them in preparing to use the presentation equipment, and verify the order of presentations for the session. They also monitor time to ensure the session begins/ends as scheduled, and ensure that all presenters are provided their allotted time to speak. They facilitate question & answer from the audience, and thank presenters and attendees for participating in the session.