Introduction

The Georgia Science Teachers Association (GSTA) is committed to supporting excellence in science teaching for the students of Georgia. GSTA works to CONNECT, INFORM, SUPPORT, and ADVOCATE for science teachers in Georgia. We also seek to PARTNER with like-minded formal and informal science education organizations to further GSTA’s mission and goals. 

GSTA’s guiding documents shape the organization’s work toward achieving this mission. After updating GSTA’s constitution in 2014-2015, the GSTA Board of Directors moved on to GSTA’s other main guiding document, the strategic plan. These documents are to be reviewed and revised on a five-year cycle. The current strategic goals were developed by the 2015-2016 GSTA Board of Directors (see below), with input from the membership. The board began with initial goal setting in the spring of 2015. In fall 2015, the board sought member input through a strategic planning survey. Based on that input, the board worked to craft this final set of strategic goals, which will frame the work of the organization over the next five years. We are pleased now to share these goals with our membership, and we invite you to continue to engage with the organization as we work to bring these goals to fruition. 

The following strategic goals are based on the GSTA board’s recognition that excellent science teaching results from research-based best practices translated through the experience of expert teachers and connected to students’ diverse identities and interests. The research base from which to draw those best practices for the science classroom is presented in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and associated research. The Framework sets out a vision for three-dimensional science learning in which students engage simultaneously in science and engineering practices (e.g., developing and using models) while learning and applying core ideas (i.e., content standards) and crosscutting concepts (i.e., big ideas like matter and energy) as they explain real-world phenomena and solve authentic problems. This three-dimensional approach should be reflected in curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Georgia’s science classrooms. 

In order to fulfill this new vision for science education, Georgia’s teachers will need resources, support, and professional learning. GSTA will play a key role in implementing and sustaining this vision over the coming years. This vision comes along at the same time as an intense focus on STEM careers and STEM education. GSTA will lead the effort to promote a vision of STEM education that recognizes and builds upon the central role of science in STEM learning and careers.

You can view the strategic goals on our website here or download a pdf document here.

2015-2016 GSTA Board of Directors