A Brief History of ICASE

(The International Council of Association for Science Education)

 

 

Part 1  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.

 

Part 2  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.

 

Part 3  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.

 

Part 4   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.