Newcomers—if you're wondering what happens when you come to a conference, please visit our Newcomers' Page.
Proposals are now being accepted for the 2014 Boston national conference. For more details and to submit a proposal, visit Presenting at Conferences.
Proposals are no longer being accepted for the NSTA 2013 San Antonio national conference (April 11–14), for the 2013 STEM Forum & Expo in St. Louis, or for the 2013 area conferences in Portland, Charlotte, and Denver.
Want to promote your educational product or service? Select Exhibits and Advertising and learn about opportunities at NSTA conferences.
NSTA Conferences on Science Education: An Overview
Open to member and nonmember science educators, NSTA conferences offer the latest in science content, teaching strategy, and research to enhance and expand your professional growth. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to collaborate with science education leaders and your peers. Each year NSTA hosts a national conference on science education and three area conferences on science education.
NSTA conferences are jam-packed with innovative presentations and hands-on workshops as well as special invited speakers, educational field trips, short courses, NSTA Symposia (which provide online follow-up after the conference online), and exciting social events. The Exhibition of Science Education Materials is the largest exhibition of its kind and is an invaluable source of curriculum and other products.
As an important addition to the national conference agenda, NSTA presents Professional Development Institutes—focused, content-based, partnered programs that explore key topics in significant depth. These daylong programs offer participants a unique learning opportunity that includes a personalized pathway through the full conference agenda. NSTA national conferences may also feature one-day topical research dissemination conferences on focused topics. In plenary sessions and multiple small-group workshops, speakers present findings from their NSF-funded research. Details on these special conference events will be provided as programs are confirmed.
Session Proposals
Share your good ideas … submit a session proposal for an NSTA conference!
Submissions for NSTA's 2014 Boston national conference (April 3–6) are being accepted.
Submissions are no longer being accepted for the NSTA 2013 San Antonio national conference (April 11–14), for the 2013 STEM Forum & Expo, or for the 2013 area conferences in Portland, Charlotte, and Denver.
Future Conferences
For a complete list of future NSTA conferences through March 2015, click here.
Exhibitors and Advertisers
NSTA conferences offer you the opportunity to present your products or services to classroom science teachers—one-on-one in the exhibit hall, in exhibitor workshops, via conference advertising. And sponsorships allow you to cement your name among the teaching profession's leaders. Explore the myriad options!
Members of the Press (Reporters, Journalists, Editors, and Bloggers)
Members of the press can receive a complimentary press badge to attend an NSTA conference. To qualify for a press badge, you must submit credentials and be approved by the NSTA Office of Legislative and Public Affairs (OLPA). For more information, click here.
In this section:
Upcoming conferences:
- National Conference—San Antonio, Texas: April 11–14, 2013
- 2013 STEM Forum & Expo—St. Louis, Missouri: May 15–18, 2013
- Area Conference—Portland, Oregon: October 24–26, 2013
- Area Conference—Charlotte, North Carolina: November 7–9, 2013
- Area Conference—Denver, Colorado: December 12–14, 2013
- National Conference—Boston, Massachusetts: April 3–6, 2014
More information:
NSTA Conferences: A Brief History
The National Science Teachers Association was born on July 4, 1944—or rather, it came into being through a merger of two existing organizations. Less than five months later, NSTA held its first regional meetings in Chicago and New York, but for some years it continued to hold meetings in conjunction with other science organizations.
In 1952, its Summer Regional Conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan, brought the first commercial displays: 17 tabletops sold at $50 each. The next year, NSTA held its first independent national convention. As noted in The Science Teacher: "[H]istory was indeed made at Pittsburgh. Total registration reached 617, representing 33 states from coast to coast. Over 400 persons attended the Pittsburgh Hospitality Night. … 306 sat down to dinner at the banquet session on Friday. The [28] commercial exhibits were well attended as were the nearly twenty instructional exhibits."
Sixty years later, NSTA continues to provide rich venues for science educators to share their experience, but the scale has changed significantly. Over 17,000 persons attended NSTA conferences in 2011—three regional conferences and the national conference in San Francisco. Attendees had more than 3,800 sessions to choose from, and 710 exhibitors displayed their newest products.
With its Conferences on Science Education, NSTA helps keep the conversation going, furthering the "improvement of science education and
learning for all."