In Praise of Science Teachers: Essential Partners in Researching, Reframing, and Reforming Science Learning

The year 2025 brings NARST’s 98th Annual International Conference. With our 100th anniversary rapidly approaching, now is an opportune time to reflect on a critical component of our organizational identity: science teachers. Many of us recall the historical genesis of the acronym NARST as standing for the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. There is no science teaching without science teachers. For this conference, let us centralize, emphasize, and praise the work science teachers do that enables and inspires our efforts as science education researchers. Inherent in this theme is an inclusive understanding of the terms science teaching, science teachers, and science education researchers. Science teaching is taken to include engineering education and the diverse ways in which humans engage in and contribute to both disciplines. Likewise, science teaching is not limited to formal brick-and-mortar or digital settings. In addition to professional educators, science teachers include parents, families, and other community members. Many of these same folks can and should play integral roles in the research process. When we gather in the greater Washington, DC area, let us give voice to the myriad ways in which science teachers (writ large) contribute to researching, reframing, and reforming science teaching and learning. Bearing in mind throughout NARST’s ultimate goal of helping all learners achieve science literacy.

Jerome Shaw, NARST President