Dear ASTE Members,

The ASTE Awards Committee is now accepting nominations for Awards I, II, and III – Science Education Career Awards. These awards recognize the personal achievements and professional contributions of ASTE’s members. Any member of ASTE (including graduate students) may submit a nomination. The nominee should be informed about the award nomination and nominators must follow the submission guidelines available at http://theaste.org/awards.  

Descriptions of each of these awards are provided below but are also available online.

• Award I – Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year (Two Levels). The purpose of these awards is to recognize the individual achievements and contributions of ASTE members. Level One is for ASTE members in the first ten years of their career. Level Two is for ASTE members beyond the first ten years of their career.
•  Award II – Outstanding Mentor. This award honors ASTE members who support and encourage pre-service and in-service science teachers and/or new science teacher educators entering the profession. It also seeks to recognize the valuable contributions of mentors to the profession of science teacher education.
• Award III – Outstanding Longtime Service to ASTE. This award recognizes outstanding service by a long-standing member of ASTE. For this award, service is defined as work accomplished over 15 consecutive or nonconsecutive years by a committed ASTE member in an effort to address issues, goals, and actions that have intellectual merit and broader impact on science teacher education, while simultaneously serving the needs of ASTE members.

Submissions for Awards I, II, and III are due June 1st. The Awards Committee Co-Chair will contact nominees shortly after the June 1 deadline to confirm receipt of the nomination materials.

Nominations for Awards I, II, and III must be submitted online. To do so, go to http://theaste.org/awards, log in, and then click on the highlighted link “Nominations must be submitted online.”

If you have any questions about Awards I, II, or III, please contact the Awards Committee Chair, Jennifer Stark (jstark@uwf.edu).

Sincerely,
Jennifer Stark and Corinne Lardy
ASTE Awards Committee, Chair and Co-Chair

Applications now being sought for the position ofConference Program Coordinator(s)for theAssociation for Science Teacher Education (ASTE)The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) is seeking applications for Conference Program Coordinator (s). The duration of the appointment is 3.5 years. The first six months (July 2021 – January 2022) will overlap with the current Conference Program Coordinator as a transition and training period. Official coordination responsibilities will be from closure of the 2022 ASTE Annual Conference through close of the 2025 ASTE Annual Conference.The coordinator(s) will carry out their work as part of the ASTE Conference Planning Committee (CPC) to ensure that meetings, workshops, offsite events and field trips are included in the conference program. The CPC members include:●  CPC Chair●  Program Coordinator(s)●  Local Host Team●  Past -President●  Executive Director●  Director of Electronic Services●  Equity Committee Representative●  Graduate Student RepresentativeIn preparation for the ASTE Annual Conferences, the Conference Program Coordinator(s):●  Communicate with Thread Coordinators regarding recommendations for accepted proposals, confirming decisions to accept/reject with the Director of Electronic Communications for author notification●  Manage the process for building the daily conference schedule, including concurrent sessions, meetings, and other events●  Coordinates the process of assembling the information from all parties necessary to build the conference program and conference app.●  Collaborates with CPC Chair and other members of the committee Most of the coordinator’s work is completed remotely, with the busiest period between July and November each year as proposals are submitted and reviewed.The Conference Program Coordinator(s) must be members in good standing of ASTE. Desired qualifications include a high level of organization, strong interpersonal skills for collaboration, attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines, and familiarity working with spreadsheets.The position includes up to 4 complementary nights at the conference hotel during the annual conferences during the term of service (2023, 2024, 2025). For questions regarding this position and to submit application materials, email ASTE President-elect Rommel Miranda at rmiranda@towson.eduFull applications for the position are due May 15, 2021 and should include:●  A cover letter stating interest in the position and qualifications●  An abbreviated Curriculum Vita (no more than 5 pages) focusing on work relevant to the position

Call for Proposals 
2022 ASTE International Conference 
Why Science Education?
Greenville, SC
#ASTE2022
 

It is time to submit concurrent session proposals for Association for Science Teacher Education 2022 Conference in Greenville, SC!  We know these are uncertain times for all of us, but we sincerely hope that we will be able to gather together in Greenville January 6-8, 2022 to explore Why Science Education?

The conference proposal system uses a profile-based approach that will result in fewer notification emails going to spam folders and will also allow for proposal editing until the June 30, 2021 due date.  You will also receive the decision letter and reviewer comments via logging in to your profile. 

You must have a current (or recent) ASTE membership OR a non-member account to submit a proposal. If you have a membership, your account is already in place. Instructions for creating and using a non-member account (basically a username and password) are located on the proposal submission page located at https://theaste.org/meeting/proposal-submission/.  Once your account is in place, you need to log in to access the proposal system. 

Proposals should address issues concerning science teacher education. Information about formats, threads, proposal requirements, and rubrics for proposals can be found at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YA8gTBb2PG5e_4341MWq9PJJssxWmx6llQj9-SOs454/edit?usp=sharing

In addition to submitting a proposal, please consider taking on the role(s) of reviewer and/or presider for the conference.  You fill out the volunteer application here to serve in one of these rolls: https://forms.gle/fNaP9iQUwQXgvMJh7

The priority deadline for submitting proposals is MIDNIGHT JUNE 30, 2021.  Proposals received after the deadline will only be considered on a space-available basis.  For more information or to submit a proposal, please go to the ASTE website at https://theaste.org/meeting/proposal-submission/

Technical questions should be sent to John Rhea, ASTE Director of Electronic Services, at DES@theaste.org.  If you have questions about the conference events, please contact the conference chair at conferencechairs@theaste.org. If you have questions about the proposal process, please contact the Program Coordinator, Brooke Whitworth, at programchair@theaste.org

ASTE Members:

We are excited to announce the call for Thread Coordinators for the 2022 annual conference. Presentations at our annual conference are organized by ‘Threads’ that bring together sessions and topics related to a variety of member interests. Each Thread is led by a team of two 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.

We hope you will consider volunteering to serve ASTE in this role, and to help contribute to the quality and diversity of our conference offerings! Applications are due Wednesday, March 24, 2021.

If you have any questions about serving as a Thread Coordinator, please contact:  

• Brooke Whitworth, ASTE Conference Program Coordinator, or 
• Andrea Burrows, Chair of the ASTE Conference Planning Committee 

A full list of Conference Threads appears below. Coordinators are needed for all threads, except where chairs are indicated.

·         College and 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.

·         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.

·         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:Jesse Wilcox and Colby Tofel-Grehl

·         Equity & Diversity: Proposals for this strand will address equity and diversity issues that current and future science teacher educators encounter.

·         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.

·         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.

·         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.

·         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: Joanne Olson and Daniel Carpenter

·         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.

·         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.

·         Professional Development for Science Teacher Educators (PD Workshops) Proposals for one-hour workshops for science teacher educators can be submitted to this strand. Workshops are currently embedded in the conference schedule, rather than being scheduled pre-conference.
*Chaired by the PD Committee

·         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.

·         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.

·         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.

·         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.

Dr. Andrea C. Burrows
University of Wyoming – College of Education
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs
Professor – Science Education – School of Teacher Education

Dear ASTE colleagues:
 
It is with a heavy heart that we write to you with the sad news of the passing of ASTE (AETS at the time) past president Norman G. Lederman. Norm passed away on the morning of February 26, 2021 after a brief and unexpected illness. As always, his wife and partner, Judy Lederman was right by his side, as well as his stepchildren Abigail Bernier and Ben Sweeney. He and Judy had recently relocated from Chicago, Illinois to Rhode Island to be closer to family and continue their work in science education. Norm was 69. He embodied in his career the often-sought goal in our community of bridging the worlds of science teachers, science teacher educators, and science education researchers.
 
Over the course of 47 years, Norm led a distinguished and impactful career as a science teacher, science teacher educator, and science education researcher and leader. Shortly after earning his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from Bradley University (1971) and New York University (1973), respectively, Norm taught biology for a decade to high school and community college students in Illinois and New York, as well as college students at Syracuse University. During those years, he earned an M.S. in secondary education from Bradley (1977) and Ph.D. in science education from Syracuse University (1983), studying under Dr. Marvin Druger. Norm held assistant professor positions in science education and teacher education at Syracuse University, State University of New York–Albany, and Oregon State University (OSU). At OSU, he was promoted to associate and then full professor. In 2001, he chaired OSU’s Department of Mathematics and Science Education, and left that year to found and chair IIT’s new Mathematics and Science Education Department. In 2011, Norm was named an IIT Distinguished Professor. By the time of his retirement in 2020, his IIT department had become a local, national, and international force in discipline-based mathematics and science education. Along the way, Norm was a Visiting Research Professor at National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan; Fulbright Scholar at the University of Pretoria, South Africa; Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education; Guest Professor at Beijing Normal University, China; and Distinguished Foreign Expert at the State Administration of Foreign Affairs, China. At the time of his passing, Norm was a “virtual” visiting professor at the University of Science and Technology of China.
 
Norm taught and mentored hundreds upon hundreds of science students, preservice and inservice science teachers, and graduate students in science education in the United States and across the globe. He was major professor to 51 doctoral students, mentoring them into successful careers of their own. Norm was an amazing mentor and treated his doctoral students as family, and was considered as family to all his students. For his work, Norm received the Illinois Outstanding Biology Teacher Award from the National Association of Biology Teachers (1979), as well as the Presidential Citation for Distinguished Service (1986) and Outstanding Mentor Award (1998) from the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science (AETS). Additionally, Norm provided significant service and leadership to major national and international organizations across science teaching, science teacher education, and science education research. He was elected president of AETS (1994), member of the board of directors (1994–1998) and director of teacher education (1996–1998) of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and NARST executive board of directors (1997–2000) and then NARST president (2002). He also served as the North American representative to the International Council of Associations for Science Education (2004–2010). For this extensive service and leadership, NSTA recognized Norm in 2017 with the Distinguished Service to Science Education Award.
 
Norm was an intellectual force and prolific researcher. He studied preservice and inservice science teachers’ knowledge structures of subject matter and pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge, and teachers’ concerns and beliefs. Norm is best known for his research on teaching and learning about nature of science (NOS), a robust domain of research in science education that is inextricably linked with his name. Norm’s 1992 review of the research literature on NOS published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST) continues to be one of the top five most cited papers in our field. This paper has shaped research on NOS in science education for the past 30 years. Over his distinguished career, Norm published more than 200 articles in professional refereed journals and 46 book chapters. He authored or edited 11 books, including an elementary science teaching methods textbook. Norm co-edited with Sandra Abell the Handbook of Research on Science Education: Volume I (2007) and Volume II (2014), and was editing Volume III of the handbook, with Dana Zeidler and Judy Lederman, at the time of his passing. Norm has given more than 1000 presentations, invited talks, and keynote addresses at regional, national and international professional conferences and meetings, as well as universities around the globe. His work has been heavily cited with 38,000+ citations on Google Scholar (h-index = 70; i10-index = 153) and 6,400+ citations on the Web of Science® (h-index = 33; i-10 index = 45).
 
Norm’s research leadership extended to shaping the field through extensive engagement in the editorship of professional journals. He served as co-editor of the School Science and Mathematics Journal, and Journal of Science Teacher Education (JSTE), as well as associate editor for JRST, JSTE, and International Journal of Science Education, among many other journals. Norm served on the editorial boards of some 15 science education journals across the globe.
 
For his scholarship, Norm was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009) and American Education Research Association (2010). He was recognized with an honorary doctorate from the University of Stockholm, Sweden (2008). In 2011 NARST honored him with the Distinguished Contributions to Science Education through Research Award for his outstanding and continuing contributions, notable leadership, and substantial impact in the area of science education.
 
The science education community worldwide lost a colleague, relentless advocate, and visionary leader with exceptional passion and dedication to the causes of science education. For those of us who knew Norm as an outstanding teacher, dedicated advisor, supportive mentor, and lifelong friend, our loss is even graver. We will miss him sorely.
 
Judy Lederman can be reached at ledermanj@iit.edu or by mail at 239 Spartina Cove Way, Wakefield, RI 02879, USA.

Dear ASTE Members,

You are invited to submit a proposal  for an ASTE-sponsored session at the upcoming NSTA Engage Spring 2021 Virtual Conference which will take place  over four weeks April 12-May 8.  

• April 12-17 Elementary
• April 19-24 Middle Level
• April 26-May 1 High School
• May 3-8 Postsecondary and Informal (*one day exclusively dedicated to programming for science teacher educators)

As an affiliate of NSTA, ASTE is provided with 5 hours of programming at the upcoming NSTA Engage Conference.  These proposals will undergo a review by ASTE prior to acceptance, and should not be submitted directly to the NSTA conference proposal system. 
Proposals are due Wednesday, February 10^th and will be evaluated on the extent to which they: 

• Support specifically identified parts of the NRC Framework, the NGSS, or state standards.
• Support three-dimensional teaching and learning.
• Are based on current and available research.
• Involve participants through activities or discussion.
• Are grounded in cultural competency (promotes equity, demonstrates the value of diversity, and addresses the impact of bias). 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Debi Hanuscin (hanuscd@wwu.edu). 

Dear ASTE Community,

Your input to the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) membership survey is critical to the ongoing improvement of ASTE.

If you haven’t had the opportunity, we encourage you to consider providing input through our ASTE membership survey.

If you have already submitted feedback through the membership survey, thank you so much! You can disregard the remainder of this email.

Three committees (Equity, Membership and Participation, and Professional Development) are responsible for gathering data from ASTE members every three years to provide ASTE with valuable feedback. All the data you provide are anonymous. Responses to the survey will be used to identify areas for improvement in the organization and to guide strategic planning. The survey will close February 26, 2021. 

The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) promotes leadership and support for professionals involved in the education and development of teachers of science at all levels. If you have any questions about the survey, please forward them to the ASTE Executive Director:executivedirector@theaste.org

Link to survey: https://forms.gle/UTA7r1G9Y2j2YNHMA

Sincerely,
ASTE Leadership team

Due Date: Monday March 1, 2021

Members of the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE),

Are you interested in serving on the Editorial Review Board (ERB) for the practitioner journal Innovations in Science Teacher Education (Innovations)?  If so, please apply; we would love to have your expertise on the board.

Innovations is an online practitioner development journal of the Association for Science Teacher Education. It is a place where science teacher educators can share the work they do to prepare preservice and inservice science teachers. We publish four issues per year featuring concrete ideas and strategies that are easily replicable by science educators in their own setting, context, and with their unique student population. The activities, ideas and strategies described in the manuscripts are based on a firm foundation of scholarly work in science education and describe innovative efforts to advance the field and enhance science teacher education. 

We are seeking any (and all) interested ASTE members from different stages in their careers and/or working in a variety of contexts (i.e., university faculty, graduate students, and formal or informal science educators working in private sector or nonprofit centers focused on science teacher professional development).

Qualifications:

• Established record of publishing in, or reviewing for, peer-reviewed science education practitioner and/or research journals.
• Prior experience as a reviewer for grants or other scholarly works.
• Expertise in teacher education (preservice, induction, and inservice). Areas within these domains can focus on curriculum development, technology, or informal settings.

Duties and Responsibilities if Selected:

• Read and evaluate approximately 4-6 manuscripts per year in a timely manner.
• Review manuscripts within four weeks of receipt.
• Maintain membership in the Association for Science Teacher Education.
• Commit to serving on the ERB for three years (ERBs will be reviewed yearly).
• Provide written reports and formative feedback on submitted manuscripts using the criteria and evaluation form provided by the Editors.
• Provide feedback to the editors about the journal direction and review process.
• Help recruit high impact authors for the journal.

To apply, please submit electronically in a SINGLE PDF the following materials to Sarah Boesdorfer at ISTEjournal@ilstu.edu by Monday March 1, 2021

● One-page letter of interest that includes a list of at least three areas of expertise, very specific areas welcome, in science teacher education in which you would be comfortable reviewing manuscripts.

● Two-page vita that emphasizes publications in refereed journals, especially practitioner journals, and includes any previous reviewing or editing experience.

Dear ASTE Members,

The ASTE Awards Committee is now accepting nominations for outstanding papers presented at our 2021 ASTE virtual conference. ASTE members are invited to submit an electronic copy of their manuscript by following the directions available at http://theaste.org/awards.

Award IV – Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers

Award V – Implications of Research for Educational Practice

Awards IV and V include graduate student-only levels. Only graduate students who were the first author on a 2021 ASTE conference presentation are eligible. Submission for a graduate student level award must be accompanied by a letter from any faculty mentor co-authors explaining their involvement. Awardees will receive conference registration for the 2021 ASTE conference in Greenville, NC. Submissions may only be considered for one level of the award. Please see the website for more details.

All submissions must be identifiable as a presentation given at the 2021 ASTE virtual conference and closely resemble the paper distributed at the conference.  Submissions for both Awards IV and V are due March 1^st and must comply with the submission guidelines (e.g. page limits, formatting, etc.). Please see http://theaste.org/awards for more information regarding submission guidelines and requirements.

If you have questions about Awards IV or V, please contact the Awards co-Chairs.

Thank you,

Jennifer Stark (jstark@uwf.edu) & Corinne Lardy (corinne.lardy@csus.edu) 

Awards Committee co-Chairs

Dear ASTE Board & Members, 

I am soliciting contributions for the Winter ASTE Newsletter. If you have a short piece/announcement that would be beneficial to ASTE members you would like included in the newsletter, please send it to newsletter@theaste.org by February 5th so that I can assemble this edition and get it off for review before being shared with the full ASTE community. 

Regional Directors! Don’t forget to share with me what’s going in your region!

I am also looking for some ideas for the Op Ed piece for future issues. IF you have something interesting, thought-provoking or related to any current events, please email me with a short description of your idea. 

Also, if you have any new resources or publications, let me know that too! Send me a short blurb with the appropriate information for how to access it and I will get it published too!

If you have any questions or require guidance regarding the newsletter, please do not hesitate to contact me! 

Please include a head shot with your email so I can include it with your submission. Because I want to continue to connect all ASTE members with each other, I value these photos. Therefore, be warned that if you do not share a photo, I will be pulling images from online (e.g., linkedin, university faculty pages, past newsletters…). 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Oramous, ASTE Newsletter Editor