The International Committee is pleased to welcome four new members: Shirly Avargil (Bar-Ilan University, Israel ), Dante Cisterna (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile), Hyewon Jang(Harvard University), and Rojjana Klechaya (Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand).

In May 2016, three rotating sub-committees, each consisting of 5 members, were formed to manage the committee’s main programs: a) NARST International Committee Scholarship program; b) Linking Science Educators program; and c) the ESERA Summer School Mentor program.

During the NARST 2016 annual international conference, the International Committee engaged in various activities for the purpose of engaging conference participants in discussion of issues related to cross-cultural research and strengthening NARST’s links with other organizations.

A pre-conference workshop was organized by Hsiao-Lin Tuan (National Changhua University of Education), Binaben Vanmali (Arizona State University), and May May Hung Cheng (The Hong Kong Institute of Education). The title of the workshop was How to Conduct Cross-Culture Science Education Research. Four research groups from the US, Australia, Germany, and Spain presented different ways of conducting cross-culture science education research.

A sponsored symposium (Promoting Cross-Culture Science Education Research) was organized and chaired by Hsiao-Lin Tuan (National Changhua University of Education). Ten researchers from Taiwan, Canada, USA, Ireland, Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel served as presenters and shared experiences and inspiring insights about cross-culture studies in science education.

Another sponsored symposium (Current Challenges about Epistemic Practices and Scientific Practices in Science Education) was organized by Maria Pilar Jimenez Aleixandre (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain), with Jesus Piqueras (Stockholm University, Sweden) serving as a chair and Jim Ryder (University of Leeds, United Kingdom) serving as a discussant. Nine researchers from North America, Sweden, Spain, UK, Israel and Ireland presented their work.

Finally, a symposium was held for the 2015 Linking Science Educators Program recipient and PhD scholarship recipients to share their cross-cultural experiences. All of the recipients expressed their gratitude to NARST for providing them with the opportunity to be exposed to other cultures and worldviews outside of North America.