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A
Brief History of ICASE
The Beginning
At a meeting in June 1972, held in Singapore and sponsored by UNESCO
and organized by Science Teachers’ Association of Singapore (STAS)
and the Singapore National Academy of Science, a proposal was put
forward to create an international organisation to link national
science teacher associations. The suggestion was that UNESCO could
help to facilitate the exchange of information among science
teachers’ associations in Asia. The inspiration behind the proposal
came largely from Mrs. Sheila M. Haggis (UNESCO) who passed away in
April 1995, Some have called her the Mother of ICASE. The meeting
was attended by representatives from teachers’ associations in Hong
Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand. ICASE was formally established in April 1973 at the
University of Maryland, USA. The first constitution of ICASE was
approved at the inaugural meeting on 15 April 1973. After the
inaugural meeting, an interim Executive Committee was established
under the Chairmanship of Professor David Lockard. Dennis Chisman
was appointed the first Executive Secretary and Treasurer. ICASE
itself had no funds and no immediate finance, but this was overcome
in an interesting manner. It was characteristic of the friendly
atmosphere at the meeting, that one of the representatives from an
African Science Teachers’ Association (Mr.John Kusi-Achampong)
passed around a plate during the meeting for representatives to give
whatever they could individually and could personally afford to
provide an immediate cash balance to launch ICASE. US$250 was
collected in this way.
The Committee and Activities
The first meeting of the Executive Committee under the Chairmanship
of Professor David Lockard was held in Paris 1974. In the meeting,
Dr. Victor Showalter, USA, designed the five hexagons which
represent the ICASE logo. Recently, this logo has been modified in
color and also for French and Spanish versions. The first ICASE
Newsletter was published in November 1973. Dr.David Cohen, NSW,
Australia, was the Editor. He was succeeded by Jan Vaernivijck from
VeLeWe. Jack Holbrook, HKASME, became Editor in 1985 at the same
time as he was appointed Executive Secretary; the newsletter came
out biannually and continued until the new Journal Science Education
International (SEI) was launched in March 1990 with Brenton Honeyman
(later ICASE president) ASTA,, Australia as the Editor. The current
editor is Nicos Valanides, Cyprus. From 1977 ICASE pioneered
regional meetings in different parts of the world. The Asian region
has been particularly active in this regard. Meetings have been
held, India (1977), Philippines (1979), Singapore (1981), Hong Kong
(1982), Malaysia (1986), Brunei (1989), China (1991), Sri Lanka
(1992), Thailand (1994), and Pakistan (1997). Apart from regional
activities, there have been several conferences around the world.
The Conference on Sustainable Development for a New World Agenda
(Canada 1990), Empirical Research in Mathematics and Science
Education (Germany 1990). Empirical Research in Chemistry and
Physics Education (Germany 1992). A series of industry-education
liaison meetings, first held in Brussels in 1990, culminating in a
Industry-Education partnership conference in York UK in 2000,
sponsored by CEFIC, the European federation of industry
associations. A second ICASE newsletter is Stepping into Science
(STEP) which aimed at the primary teacher. The STEPS Newsletter,
initially edited by Lady Sue Tunnicliffe (ASE), was first issued in
1992. Sue has been working for ICASE for 30 years, but currently the
new editor is Dr. Lynda Paznokas (CESI). ICASE works
internationally! But it is very difficult to bring teachers together
for conferences and discussions on an international scale, because
of travel costs and accommodation expenses. ICASE has thus worked on
developing publications which bring experiences from many countries
to the attention of science teachers at the local level. In the
past, ICASE has produced a range of publications, in addition to the
Journals and newsletters. These are conference and seminar reports,
resource notes for teachers, yearbooks, commemorative issues,
research papers and a yearbook.
Some publications were commemorative booklets on:
Halley’s Comet and the 200th Anniversary of Man’s First flight,
Experiments and Activities on the three Laws of Dynamics,
Apollo 11,
Pasteur and Microbes,
The status of Science-Technology-Society Reform Efforts around the
World,
ICASE The First 20 Years: A Brief History,
Who’s Who in Science Education Around the World,
Promoting Students’ Scientific and Technological Thinking,
The Training of Trainers (TOT) Manual for Promoting Scientific and
Technological Literacy (STL) for All supported by UNESCO.
Scientific and Technological Literacy: Supplementary teaching
materials.
Project 2000+
In 1993, UNESCO, in collaboration with ICASE, convened an
international forum on Project 2000+: Scientific and Technological
Literacy for All (STL) to establish a global agenda to encourage
governments and all stakeholders to work on reforming science and
technology education. I was in the meeting: the ICASE General
Assembly was also held at this time. Dr Janchai Yingprayoon was
elected to be the ICASE Asian Representative at this time.
In 1999, a World Conference on Science (Budapest), sponsored by
UNESCO, ICSU and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, negotiated a new
social contract for science in the 21st Century, establishing what
efforts needed to be made in response to social expectations and the
challenges posed by social and human development. ICASE
representatives were in this conference.
Likewise the International Experts Conference on Science, Technology
and Mathematics Education for Human Development organized by UNESCO
and CASTME in Goa, India (November 2001) concluded that “the
distinctive feature of STME, in its attempts to encourage scientific
and technological literacy, is the emphasis on societal needs and
the importance of developing an ethos of social responsibility in
the development and application of science and technology”. ICASE
put forward a background paper during this conference “statements on
Policies, Standards, Relevance and Links for science and technology
(and Mathematics) education”. This paper formed a background to the
ICASE World Conference, held in Penang, in 2003.
Forming links
While is ICASE is dependent on its member organizations (who
form the Governing Body of ICASE), ICASE also maintains important
relationships with other organizations. Cooperation with UNESCO is
very close. From the very first meeting of ICASE in 1973, UNESCO has
been very supportive of ICASE activities. This has been manifested
through many small and large contracts for projects undertaken by
ICASE. Members of the ICASE Executive Committee have frequently been
invited by UNESCO to take part in consultation meetings. ICASE is
recognized as an NGO which has been classified by UNESCO as having
official relations. This means ICASE receives, as an NGO, documents
pertaining to the functioning of UNESCO especially its Executive
Committee and its biennial General Conference.
ICASE has links with a number of organizations and educational
companies and industries. In the early years of the 21st century,
ICI teamed up with ICASE and supported several workshops and also
the First ICASE World conference, 2003 held in Penang, Malaysia The
local organiser was RECSAM. A major ICASE outcome for the conference
was a Way Forward document endorsed by the participants which tries
to initiate national developments towards the creation of
stakeholder partnerships for the promotion of meaningful and
relevant science education.
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