History & Photos

THE EARLY YEARS

Fred Brinkman

The RDC was instituted in the late 1980s, originally under the name of "The training of science teachers." Under the leadership of Fred Brinkman (pictured second from left above, and at the Warsaw conference in 2002), it rapidly became perhaps the largest and most dynamic group in the Association. It was one of the few RDCs to focus on teacher education for a specific school subject - or, more accurately, a cluster of subjects. From the mid-1990s, the group attracted a number of participants who were chiefly interested in mathematics education rather than science education, and the RDC willingly enlarged its mandate to include studies related to mathematics. Work at this stage was varied, but many papers had a focus on teacher thinking and conceptual change. This focus was eventually reflected in the RDC's first formal project, which dominated the work of the group in the late 1990s.

DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE TIME OF THE FIRST RDC PROJECT

Onno de Jong

The mathematics educators in the group were the first to form a collaborative subgroup (known as the Oslo Maths Group because their collaborative project - the Oslo Maths Project - started at the annual conference in Oslo in 1995), using what became known as the "lesson preparation method." Their methodology was replicated by subgroups in the different science areas, and the larger project flourished. During this period, leadership of the group was taken over by Onno de Jong, a notable participant in the project; his appointment maintained the strong influence of teacher educators from the Netherlands that contributed to the group's early productivity. It should be noted also that Sheila Turner and Tony Turner, both from England, served as joint vice-chairs until 2000, when they bowed out of ATEE. They were replaced as RDC vice-chairs by Laurinda Leite (Portugal) and Elizabeth Oldham (Ireland), representing science and mathematics respectively. The name of the group was changed to "The training of science and mathematics teachers" to emphasize the widened mandate - though the expanded designation was not always reflected in ATEE literature and communications.

WORK IN THE 2000s
Varied work has continued, and has included the development of further projects (with Chris Hopkins from England and Sarah [Sally] Berenson from the USA playing key roles in the projects' design), but also benefiting from the presentation of papers on many topics unconnected with these. A further name change - this time undertaken as part of a streamlining exercise by ATEE - saw the group take on its present title, "Science and mathematics education."
As regards the position of chair, Onno de Jong stepped down from active involvement in ATEE after the 2002 conference in Warsaw. Laurinda Leite and Elizabeth Oldham then worked as co-chairs, with Elsa Price (USA) later appointed as vice-chair. In summer 2013, Laurinda was temporarily released from her position as co-chair in order to concentrate on hosting the 2014 Annual Conference in Braga, Portugal; she resumed the role once the work of the conference was completed.
In 2015 and 2016, discussion at the RDC meetings included consideration of STEM education. The RDC has considered extending its mandate so as to cover this area or cooperating with the RDC "Teacher education and digital technology" on the subject. Ideas are welcome.

PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD
The RDC's website was set up in summer 2012. It is a natural place in which to store visual as well as textual material. We welcome photographs that show RDC members - at work, or enjoying the social life that is a feature of ATEE conferences! Contributions can be sent to any of the RDC's Co-Chairs / Vice-Chair: currently Laurinda Leite (lleite@ie.uminho.pt), Elizabeth Oldham (eoldham@tcd.ie) and Elsa Price (elsaprice69@gmail.com).

1996

The Oslo Maths Group meeting in Dublin, Spring 1996: Sally Berenson, Maria Blanton, Ton van der Valk...

... and Ulla Runesson, Cândida Queiros Moreira, Elizabeth Oldham work on the RDC's first co-operative project

1999

Enjoying drinks during the Annual Conference in Leipzig, 1999 (facing camera: Ineke Frederik, Tony Turner; in profile: Ton van der Valk)

2002

RDC members in a session at the 2002 Annual Conference in Warsaw (from left to right, standing: Elsa Price, Christine Hopkins, Maria de Fátima Paixão, Kristina Öberg, Karen Dawkins, Maryann Ehle, (?), (?); seated, Jo Ann Belk, Laurinda Leite)

The American contingent ((?), Maryann Ehle, Elsa Price, Karen Dawkins, Melvin Price, Jo Ann Belk) enjoy an evening in the city

2007

The 2007 Annual Conference festive dinner at Wolverhampton Wanderers FC stadium (Trisha Eaton, Laurinda Leite, Teresa Vilaça; Kristina Öberg, Karen Dawkins, Sally Berenson)

2008

An RDC session at the 2008 Annual Conference in Brussels: Ruth Forrest and Sally Berenson

2009

The organisers of the 2009 Annual Conference in Mallorca, Mireia Montane and Joana Salazar Noguera, relaxing with RDC co-chair Elizabeth Oldham (centre) ..................................................................... Workshop leaders V. Bundhoo and A. Bholoa with Theodora De Baz, Elsa Price and (?) at an RDC session

2010

At the 2010 Annual Conference in Budapest: Laurinda Leite, Maria Bravo, Trisha Eaton, Maja Cindric, Elsa Price

Evening cruise on the Danube: Elizabeth Oldham (dressed for rain!)

At the Budapest conference dinner: Teresa Vilaça (standing), Maryann Ehle, Maria Bravo and her daughter...

... and Maja Cindric, Elsa Price, Melvin Price

2012

The 2012 Annual Conference in Eskişehir: Waiting for the bus at Istanbul airport (Teresa Vilaça, Laurinda Leite) ........................................ Turkish food at the Namli hotel - Elizabeth Oldham... ... and friends (Maryann Ehle, second from right)

2013

New members for the RDC in ... (Milan Stojkovic )

... some of the sessions at the 2013 Annual Conference in Østfold, Norway (Gerd Johansen, Hilde Afdal, Batya Amit)

Elsa Price and Hilde Afdal with family and ...

... Laurinda Leite with friends at the Østfold conference dinner

2014

Elsa Price and Piedade Vaz Rebelo at Coimbra after the Braga conference

Participants (Milan Stojkovic, Jim Freemyer, Donatella De Tommaso, Linda Hobbs, Elsa Price, Anna Asti, Maurice OReilly and Elizabeth Oldham) at the end of a session at the 2014 Annual Conference in Braga

Milan Stojkovic and Laurinda Leite at Guimaraes after the Braga conference

2015

Linda Hobbs and Mellita Jones

Maurice OReilly and Trisha Eaton

The Kosovo delegation!

Melvin Price, Elizabeth Oldham and Elsa Price

At dinner before the ceilidh at the 2015 Annual Conference in Glasgow

Presenters Maurice OReilly, Trisha Eaton, Sandra Jederud, Laila Niklasson, Imran Thaqi and Xhevdet Thaqi at the fourth parallel session in Glasgow

2016

Elsa Price, Iclal Ayvar, Elizabeth Oldham and Laurinda Leite at the 2016 Annual Conference in Eindhoven

Milan Stojkovic, Elizabeth Oldham, Jouri Van Landeghem, Nele Vermeulen, Elsa Price and Laurinda Leite after an RDC session

Eindhoven - the weather was lovely ... not so sure about the arithmetic!

2017

Ljubica Oparnica, Arne Mogensen, Floriano Viseu, Elizabeth Oldham, Laurinda Leite and Elsa Price framed by the "lavender" visual identity of the 2017 Annual Conference in Dubrovnik