McComas Speaks at STEM Conferences in Turkey

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William F. McComas, center, poses with some of the conference participants at the International Conference on Education in Science, Mathematics and Technology in Konya, Turkey, including Ismail Sahin, far left, the main conference convener.

William F. McComas, the Parks Family Professor of Science Education at the University of Arkansas, was the keynote speaker at several STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education conferences in Turkey recently, one of which included a broadcast to every teacher in the country.

McComas first addressed the International Conference on Education in Science, Mathematics and Technology on May 16-18 hosted by Necmettin Erbkan University in Konya, Turkey.  McComas was a member of an extended panel discussion on how the special natures of the disciplines of science, mathematics and technology pose a challenge in unified STEM education. His keynote talk was titled “The Myths of Science: Why Much of What we Know is Wrong.” The conference was attended by more than 300 teachers and education scholars from Turkey and more than 30 other countries.

The following week, in the Turkish capital of Ankara, McComas addressed a group of several hundred teachers on the topics of “Why We Teach Science” and “Ways to Enhance Laboratory Teaching.” This session was sponsored by Haceteppe University and held at the prestigious Maya School. Both presentations were simultaneously translated and transmitted live to the entire country as part of the teacher-enhancement television network. A lively question-and-answer session with Turkish teachers concluded the session.