Announcements

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
FIRST CALL

The NARST Outstanding Paper Award (OPA) Selection Committee invites nominations of outstanding papers presented at the annual NARST conference held in Indianapolis, IN, March 25-28, 2012. Only names and e-mail addresses are needed at this time; the OPA selection committee co-chairs will contact the nominees to submit an electronic version (either an rtf or pdf file) of the papers within 6 weeks of the conferences conclusion. Self-nomination is also welcome. Nominations should be sent to the OPA Selection Committee co-chairs Drs. Wendy Michelle Frazier (wfrazier@gmu.edu) and Hannah Sevian (hannah.sevian@umb.edu) no later than May 1, 2012.

Selection of the OPA is conducted in three rounds. In the FIRST ROUND, each paper is rated and ranked by five (5) committee members. Each committee member rates 10-12 papers. Papers are assigned to raters to avoid obvious conflicts of interest even though author names and affiliations remain anonymous. The criteria for evaluation focus equally on conceptual/theoretical framework, research approach, presentation and interpretation of research, conclusions, craftsmanship/communication, significance, and creativity (see the attached Rating Sheet). Upon completing the first round of review, the OPA co-chairs will mail to all the nominees copies of the reviews they received on their papers. In the SECOND ROUND each of the papers rated and ranked in round one in the top five are rated by five (5) committee members, with each committee member reviewing 5-6 papers. Assignment to reviewers is such that a committee member who reviewed a paper in the first round would not review the same paper in the second round. In ROUND THREE those papers rated in round two in the top three are rated by all committee members to identify those papers ranked in the first, second, and third places.

Look forward to receiving your nominations!

Xiufeng Liu and Patricia Friedrichsen
NARST Awards Committee Co-Chairs

OPA Rating sheet: click here


NARST International Committee Linking Science Educators Program (LSEP)
The NARST International Committee is pleased to announce the fifth LSEP program for countries that are economically disadvantaged or underrepresented but willing to implement new ideas in science education reform in 2012. Please note the January 15th deadline for 2011 proposals has passed. Submission materials remain posted here for those who may wish to consider submitting a proposal in 2012.
LSEP Program

LSEP Application

LSEP 2010 - University of Witwatersrand, South Africa - click here

LSEP 2009 - University of Lagos and the National Open University of Nigeria - click here

LSEP 2008 - University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) and University of Malawi, click here.


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