Progress Report NABT Conferences on Biology Teaching

Abstract

The National Association of Biology Teachers lhas promoted two work-conferences on the teaching of biology, each of ten days duration. Both conferences were made possible bv grants from the National Science Foundation. The first, called the Southeastern Conference, was held August 28-September 6, 1954, at the Universitv of Florida, at Gainesville. The second, known as the North Central Conference, was held Augrust 19-31., 1955, at the Biological Station of the Universitv of Michigan, at Cheboygan, Michigan. The Southeastern Conference had ninety-four participants from ten southeastern states, while the North Central Conference had eighty-six participants from ten north central states. In each case the participants were selected to form balanced teams from each state. That is, so far as possible, each state team consisted of high school teachers of biology, college teachers of biology, those concerned with the training of biology teachers, and a public school administrator and/or a member of the state department of education. Time will not permit us to list the objectives of the conferences, the procedures that were followed, and the recommendations agreed upon. Most conferences and institutes are enjoyable and profitable experiences for those who take part. However, in my opinion, the NABT conferences were different in one important respect, in that an honest effort was made to implement the findings of the conferences after the state teams went back home.