about ASCeST


Outline

  The Advanced Support Center for Science Teachers (ASCeST) was established in April, 2010 to support teachers in primary and secondary schools. The center provides teacher-training programs and organizes various workshops in order to solve today’s educational problems and meet the needs of school teachers. A strong emphasis is placed on teacher-training workshops for primary school teachers whose major was not science. The center is building networks of individual science educators and organizations, making a database of science education, and studying standard curriculum for career development of science teachers.

Our Mission

“Science-phobia” among schoolchildren is a serious problem in Japan. A report pointed out that it comes from the Science-phobia of school teachers. Therefore, establishing a support system for non-science-major teachers in primary schools is urgently needed. Also, development of advanced teaching materials for science-major teachers is important to further  encourage schoolchildren  with an aptitude for science.

Organization

Organization

What We Do

  1. Teacher-Training Workshops
    Half or One Day Workshops
    We currently provide 30 workshops covering basic and advanced scientific and experimental subjects per year for primary and secondary school teachers.
    Short-term Workshops
    We provide 4 different three- or four-days workshops for primary and secondary school science teachers to increase their knowledge and improve their experimental skills in science.
    Training on Demand
    We dispatch our center staff to schools and science museums for off-campus teacher training workshops on demand. We provide the workshops based on basic and advanced programs we made for primary and secondary school teachers, and also have additional seminars and demonstrations on special topics.
  2. Training for Overseas Educators
    We provide seminars and workshops for the overseas educators teaching in schools or studying science education in Japan.