A Brief History of ASTE
Past Presidents
The The Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) (formerly AETS) had its origins in the
late 1920's with a series of visits, conferences and meetings of people involved in
educating science teachers. In 1923 S. Ralph Powers was invited by Dean James E. Russell
to Teachers College, Columbia University to join the faculty. Dean Russell urged Powers to
visit various science teacher training institutions and confer with faculty on science
teacher education standards. Visits to several campuses were followed by invitations to
return the visit and come to the Columbia University campus. ASTE grew out of these mutual
interchanges in the late 1920's and early 1930's.
Small roundtable conferences of science teacher educators were organized by Powers and
his associates. There was general agreement that these conferences were helpful and that
they should be held regularly. In 1929 and 1930 a small group of heads of departments of
science in institutions primarily devoted to teacher education planned a somewhat larger
meeting for the autumn of 1930. Announcements were sent to the presidents of teacher
education institutions throughout the East, inviting members of each science department to
attend. Other invitations went to city and state supervisors in the region. A large
response led to a very successful conference. The participants urged the Department of
Natural Sciences at Teachers College, Columbia University, to make the conference an
annual event.
A committee of four met and corresponded to plan the first formal conference of ASTE
that used a printed program. All science teachers from the northeast region were invited
to this conference that was held in October, 1932 at Teachers College, Columbia
University. Reports were given on the status of science teacher education in the
represented states. Subsequent conferences were held twice annually in November and April,
each lasting for two days. The 1935 meeting was titled "Conference on the Education
of Science Teachers Colleges." Except for the war years of 1942-1946, this name was
retained for annual meetings until 1953. Three regional sections were established in 1952
Ð Eastern, Midwestern, and Southern Sections.
At the business meeting in 1953, members of the "Conference on the Education of
Teachers in Science" voted to change its name to the Association for the Education of
Teachers in Science. In 1959 ASTE became a section of NSTA and an associated organization
of AOTE. A constitution and a set of by-laws were adopted in 1960. The Guideline for
the Doctorate in Science Education was published with financial help from the Shell
Foundation and the Higgins Fund of Harvard University and mailed to all ASTE members in
1967. In 1968 Volume I of the ASTE Newsletter was compiled and mailed to all
members. This newsletter evolved from the practice of compiling and mailing papers
presented at the annual convention. In 1969 ASTE inaugurated the Outstanding Young Science
Educator Award with financial support from the Shell Foundation. The first ASTE Yearbook, A
Review of Research on Teacher Behaviors by Balzer, Evans and Blosser was published in
1974. During 1978 ASTE appointed its first Executive Secretary, Bill Brown for a five year
term. He was followed in 1983 by Jill Wright, who was followed in 1988 by Bill Baird, and
Joe Peters in 1994.
Reference: ASTE: An Outline of the History of the Association for the Education of
Teachers in Science. Willard J. Jacobson. March 25, 1977.
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