International Council of Associations for Science Education

Recipients of the ICASE Distinguished Service Award

Recipient, 2013 ICASE Distinguished Service Award (ICASE WorldSTE2013 Conference Borneo Island, Kuching, Malaysia 2 October 2013):
Dr. Robin Groves, Australian Science Teacher Association, Australia
Robin Groves has made outstanding contributions to science education in his home country of Australia and internationally over many years. He has educational qualifications gained on three continents, most recently a PhD. Robin has been a secondary school science teacher in Uganda and Australia, a school principal, a senior curriculum and assessment officer, and the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Science Teachers Association. He is currently Director of Teaching and Learning and senior lecturer in Teaching, Learning, Assessment and Science Education at Curtin University, Western Australia, where he has won university and national awards for University teaching. He has also completed consultancy work in Australia and several other countries, including most recently Malaysia and the Philippines. Robin has been an enthusiastic contributor to science teachers’ associations throughout his professional life. He has been an active member of State Science Teachers’ Associations in Australia since 1975 and has been awarded Honorary Life Memberships by the Australian Science Teachers Association and the Science Educators’ Association of the Australian Capital Territory. Robin’s involvement with ICASE spanned eleven years from 1999 to 2010, during which time he served continuously on ICASE Executive, making significant policy and project contributions in many areas and working closely with international partners including UNESCO. He was appointed as Editor of the ICASE Journal, Science Education International, in 1999 and served in that role for three years before becoming President of ICASE from 2001 to 2004. Robin was Chair of the World Conference Standing Committee from 2003 to 2010 and in this capacity was International Convener of ICASE Conferences held in Malaysia, Australia and Estonia. During these conferences Robin also played a leading role in the development of the Penang, Perth and Tartu Declarations, which have guided the development of ICASE policy over the last ten years and contributed to science education renewal in several countries. Robin is awarded the ICASE Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding contributions to international science education.

Recipient, 2013 ICASE Distinguished Service Award (ICASE WorldSTE2013 Conference Borneo Island, Kuching, Malaysia 2 October 2013):
Dr. Janchai Yingprayoon, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok, Thailand
Professor Dr. Janchai Yingprayoon received a German Government Scholarship to study a Ph.D. in Laser Physics from Free University in Berlin, German. Involved in ICASE since 1979, he became an ICASE Regional Representative in 1993, and later served as ICASE President from 2004-2007. He worked as an assistant director of IPST in Thailand for many years and has been working as a visiting professor at Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, China for several years. He received an outstanding university lecturer award from the King of Thailand in 1982, and was also invited to meet the King of Saudi Arabia during a recent teacher training that he conducted for talented children in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. He has worked extensively with UNESCO and is a creative and humorous lecturer who makes learning science fun and meaningful. He is a well-known international speaker and has been invited to many international conferences as an honorable keynote speaker. Janchai has conducted innovative workshops in 24 countries around the world. He is currently working as a Deputy Director of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, an International college in Bangkok, Thailand.
Recipient, 2013 ICASE Honorary Distinguished Service Award (ICASE WorldSTE2013 Conference Borneo Island, Kuching, Malaysia 2 October 2013):
Ms. Elaine Horne, Australian Science Teachers Association, Australia
Elaine Horne receives this award for outstanding work as Co-Convenor of WorldSTE2013 in Kuching, Malaysia, the International Conference of ICASE. Elaine has made significant contributions locally and globally to science and environmental education over many years. She is an experienced Science and Biology teacher, Academic Coordinator, State Science Curriculum Officer and manager of environmental education centres at state level. Elaine’s work with Science teachers in voluntary roles has earned her a Life Membership of the Science Teachers Association of Western Australia and a Service Award from the Australian Science Teachers Association. She has served on the Boards of the Western Australian Museum, the Gravity Discovery Centre, the Greenhouse Coordination Council and the Western Australian Conservation Council. Elaine’s contributions to ICASE include Co-Convenor of WorldSTE2007 in Perth, Australia; Chair of the 2007 ICASE/UNESCO Science Education Policy Forum and co-author of the Forum’s published report; committee member for the 2003 Penang and 2010 Tartu World Conferences; and associate editor of the ICASE Journal, Science Education International. Elaine is currently Chair of the ICASE World Conference Standing Committee, and Chair of the ICASE Sustainability and Environmental Education Standing Committees. We applaud her exemplary efforts to ensure that the ICASE WorldSTE2013 event has been an exceptional networking and information sharing event for all of us.

Recipient, 1998 ICASE Distinguished Service Award:
ICASE has honoured the following outstanding science educators with its highest award - the ICASE Distinguished Service Award:
Mr Dennis G. Chisman, UK
Dennis Chisman bears the title of "the Father of ICASE" with distinction. In its 25th Year since its inception, ICASE is proud to honour Dennis with this award. Please see complete information on the accomplishments of Dennis Chisman on the ICASE History webpage.

Recipient, 1996 ICASE Distinguished Service Award:
Dr.Robert E. Yager, USA
Excerpts from the citation made by the ICASE President on the occasion of the presentation of the ICASE Distinguished Service Award to Dr Robert E. Yager (at the opening of the "Globalisation of Science Education" Conference, Seoul, Republic of Korea, May 1997: "It is my very great privilege to acknowledge an individual who has been selected to receive the ICASE Disinguished Service Award - the highest ICASE award honouring the achievements of an individual in the field of international science education. This individual joins an illustrious group of science educators who have each made their own remarkable contributions to science education at an international level. I am pleased to announce that the 1996 ICASE Distinguished Service Award is to be awarded to Dr Robert E. Yager. Dr Yager's career as a science educator spans a period of more than 40 years - a period in which science education has been characterised by significant and far reaching changes and developments. Throughout this exciting period of re-defining science teaching and learning, Bob Yager has been a prominent figure in inspiring new thinking about how best to engage students in experiences of understanding science in the context of their everyday lives. It is his clear vision of science as it relates to technology and to society that has been the driving force underlying his outstanding efforts to promote science curriculum so that it moves out beyond textbooks and classrooms to connect with the demands and challenges that people face in the context of contemporary society. The remarkable achievements of Dr Yager, the Professor of Science Education at The University of Iowa, have been recognised by the conferral of many USA awards, including the Distinguished Service to Science Education award by the National Science Teachers Association, the Presidential Award by the National Science Supervisors Association, and the Governor's Science Medal for Science Teaching. His high standing in the educational community has been recognised through his appointments and elections to prestigious US educational organisations and projects. His talents and contributions are well known beyond his own country, however. He is in high demand as a speaker, contributor and consultant in many, many countries throughout the world. His prolific writings have been appreciated by countless students, teachers, researchers and administrators in many regions of the world, and have been a significant catalyst for change in educational practice - particularly in the area of STS (science-technology-society) education. It is a fitting tribute to the high international regard in which Dr Yager is held, that he has been appointed as the organiser of this important conference on the theme of "Globalisation of Science Education: Moving Towards Worldwide Standards". In addition to acknowledging his extensive accomplishments, I would like to refer to his outstanding qualities as a person. Bob continues to be a source of inspiration to all of us involved in science education. Classroom teachers, teachers-in-training, educational researchers and administrators alike, through our contact with this man, have been encouraged and enriched as a result. His genuine interest in and commitment to facilitating the work of those involved in science education at all levels have left a special mark on all of us. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I present the 1996 ICASE Distinguished Service Award to Dr Robert Yager in recognition of his outstanding contributions to international science education."

Recipient, 1994 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Professor Dr Hans-Jurgen Schmidt, Germany
The ICASE Distinguished Service Award was presented to Professor Dr Hans-Jurgen Schmidt of the University of Dortmund, Germany by ICASE Honorary Treasurer, Dennis Chisman, during the German Science Teachers Association (MNU) annual meeting in Nuremberg on 10 April 1995. Hans-Jurgen Schmidt was the European Regional Representative on the ICASE Executive Committee from 1981 to 1985 and has been the organiser, since 1981, of the Dortmund Summer Symposia on research in science education held, in cooperation with ICASE, every two years. He has represented MNU at many international science education meetings and has particularly encouraged the development of science teachers associations in Europe. He has contributed papers at many international conferences on the role of research in science education and has written many articles in science education journals on the role of research in promoting more effective classroom practice in the teaching of science.

Mr Evhan Uzwyshyn, Canada
Recipient, 1989 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Professor Peter J Fensham, Australia
Recipient, 1988 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Ms Flo Commissiong, Jamaica (deceased 1993)
Recipient, 1985 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Dr Dolores Hernandez, Philippines
Recipient, 1985 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Ms Judith Reay, UK
Recipient, 1984 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Professor David Lockard, USA
Recipient, 1983 ICASE Distinguished Service Award
Ms Ang Wai Hoong, Singapore
Recipient, 1982 ICASE Distinguished Service Award