To: Patricia Simmons

From: Aimee L. Govett (Regional Rep for MA-ASTE – 2008)

Report on the Mid-Atlantic Association for Science Teacher Education

2005 Annual Meeting

Breaks Interstate Park, Breaks, VA

October 28-29, 2005

• We kept to our tradition of offering our annual conference at a beautiful “green” and natural location to soothe the mind, rejuvenate the body, and mend the spirit.
• The Keynote speaker, Dr. William “Drew” Andrews from the Kentucky Geological Survey was entertaining and educational, enlightening us about the region’s historical geology.   Drew also led a wonderful hike through Breaks Interstate Park on Saturday after the official end of the conference.
• Total attendees – 45
  • First-time attendees – 20
  • Graduate students presenting – 21
• We allowed graduate students a break in registration: they did not have to pay the $10 fee for MA-ASTE membership.
• Five Presentation Sessions: Consisting of 22 paper presentations and 4 poster sessions.
• Business Meeting:
  • Finances: broke even.
  • Suggestions for future conferences:
    • It was discussed and generally agreed upon that regional conferences are testing grounds for the national conferences and need to be “friendly” to new researchers, especially graduate students.
    • Panel Discussions: possibly geared to new researchers and grad students
    • True Round Tables: especially for grad students to ask questions and share thoughts and ideas.
    • Formalize Poster Sessions:  Have presenters give a five minute talk on premise of poster and allow short time for questions.   Then if anyone wants further discussion they can have “Break-out sessions” or one-on-one.
    • Request handouts of power point presentations or Outlines of paper presentations so audience has a format for taking notes; contact information; etc.   (Most already do this.)
    • Paper sets so like-minded papers can be presented together in a more condensed format.   Less time used for introductions or changeovers.
    • Have a Check Box on the Conference Proposal Form:  If you have too many sessions, I give you permission to make mine a poster session.

§         If graduate students need assistance; try to get it through the parent institution.

§         Use dues to pay for social time; perhaps to pay a musician(s) like 2004 at Roan Mountain.