ISTA Logo
ISTA Text

   ISTA Slogan

 

Upcoming Events

View ISTA Calendar (Large View)
Want to add an event, contact:
istacalendar@gmail.com

Contact ISTA
Executive Committee
Regional Directors
Become a Member

Search Website
2009 Year of Science

2009 ISTA Annual Conference

42nd Annual Conference: A Great Success

Upcoming 2010 Conference

  • Dates: Nov 4-6, 2010
  • Springfield, IL
  • Springfield Crowne Plaza

ISTA was very pleased with the excellent turnout of teachers, students, and exibitors to help celebrate the evolution of our profession and to see the changes from the very first 1967 conference, as described by Dr. Maurie Kellogg, to the remarkably complex and technical conferences we now expect

Based on evaluations, we were very pleased with the following:

  • Conversion to online registration for teachers
  • Attendance up from 510 last year to just over 600 this year
  • Excellent attendance by pre-service teachers thanks to college science ed profs
  • 67 exhibitors this year including ten multiple booth exhibits and nine non-profit tables
  • Presentation of current biological problems including invasive plants and animals
  • Monsanto and Richland biotech trailers and detailed agriscience tours
  • Bountiful door prizes and handouts, thanks to exhibitors
  • Return of 677 session evaluations—73% by teachers and 19% by student teachers
  • Strongly positive teacher evaluations of the exhibits and expo
  • Over 120 sessions or workshops in 17 tracks, mostly rated very highly by teacher participants
  • Successful New Teacher Forum with over 70 participants
  • Excellent keynote speech by Prof. Rick Duschl, recounting the reforms and evolution of science education over the past decades and pointing the way to future reforms
  • Challenging lunch speaker Max McGee who asked teachers to instill creativity and scientific thinking in students and assess students’ progress based on high level action verbs such as design, create, or synthesize, rather than select, match or name.
  • Greening of the conference with paper and waste reduction
  • About a third of the presentations or related materials captured on the 2GB $10 flash drive sold by ISTA
  • New Friday afternoon regional receptions which were successful and will be repeated
  • A great GALA at the Lakeview Museum featuring food, refreshments, light show, night show, music and dance
  • Progressive revisions of ISTA bylaws and policies at membership and directors meetings

We will greatly appreciate any additional comments and suggestions for the 2010 conference. Forward them to any ISTA director, officer or Executive Director, Harry Hendrickson. hrhendrickson@comcast.net

Conference THANK YOUs

ISTA thanks all volunteer workers, participants, and exhibitors for a great 2009 conference. Please say thanks to the following who served on the Conference Committee:

  • Program: Kathy Schmidt & Kristi Van Hoveln, Cochairs; John Loehr — keynote
  • Printed Program: Judith Scheppler
  • Flash Drives: Kendra Carroll
  • GALA: Julie Gianessi, Jill Carter
  • Promotions: Karen Zuckerman, Carol Johnson
  • Vendors and Logistics: Harry Hendrickson
  • Luncheon: Gwen Pollock, Tara McDonald
  • Registration: Coleen Martin, Jim Martin, Barbara French, Gary Butler, Robin Goettel, Carol Baker, David Abendroth, John Clark, Pam Spaniol
  • New Teacher Session: Troy Simpson, Pat Schlinder
  • Photography: Kristi Van Hoveln, Larry McPheron
  • Volunteers: Sherry Spurlock
  • Raffles: David Abendroth, John Clark, and most of the exhibitors
  • Archival Material: Maurie Kellogg and Don Hamilton

Conference Sponsors

A special thank you to our conference sponsors:

  • ExxonMobil Corporation (awards and luncheon sponsor)
  • Chicago Council on Science and Technology (luncheon sponsor)
  • The Scope Shoppe and Flinn Scientific (new teacher reception sponsor)

Thanks to our Conference Exhibitors

Please patronize our conference exhibitors and mention you saw and heard them at the ISTA conference.

2009 Conference Program

The preliminary conference program is now available: 2009 ISTA Conference - Preliminary Program

A tentative ISTA exhibitors and booth numbers is available in PDF format.

2010 ISTA Annual Conference

For the 43rd Annual Conference, we will meet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and adjacent Holiday Inn Express in Springfield on November 4-6, 2010. This is one week earlier than in the past several years.

This is one of the premier conference hotels in central Illinois known for plenty of convention space and breakout rooms. We are confident we will not have to raise conference rates but there will be some program adjustments, based on the teacher and exhibitor evaluations. We are interested in your opinions and feedback. Changes suggested by teachers include:

  • Only one session per room per hour—this will be possible due to more breakout rooms in the Crowne Plaza in 2010.
  • Requesting exhibitors to bring more science supplies and books for direct sales--teachers come with money to spend.
  • Starting later on Thursday to give teachers more time to arrive--perhaps a reception in the expo hall from 5-8.
  • Serving locally produced food and beverages at the reception to highlight community agriculture and to help teachers make contact with local progressive food producers
  • Incorporating tours into the Thursday or Saturday program. Suggestions include SIU Med School, IDOT materials lab, IL State Museum, robotic surgery at St. Johns, IEMA Command Center or Nuclear Safety lab, Public Health/IEPA lab, Surveyors' Museum (science on a sphere), Illinois Caverns cave tour, and UIS science facilities. These would be prior to the expo on Thursday or on Saturday.
  • Fitting the main speaker into the luncheon program providing more time for breakout sessions.
  • Conducting the Friday night GALA at the IL State Museum, Lincoln Museum or the Governors Mansion.
Copyright © 2009 ISTA   |   Report Site Problems   |   ISTA Webmail Access