Mike Atkin
Professional Activities
Science Writer, Scholastic Magazines, 1952-53
Consultant, Coronet Films, 1958-1979
Editorial Advisory Board, Elementary-School Science Bulletin, published by the National Science Teachers Association, 1959-60
Director, Experimental Summer Institute in Science for Elementary-School Personnel supported by the National Science Foundation at the University of Illinois, 1959
Co-director (with Professor J. Richard Suchman), "Teaching Modern Science Concepts to Elementary-School Children" (supported by University of Illinois Research Board), 1958-59
Co-director (with Professor Stanley P. Wyatt, Jr.), Elementary-School Science Project, a course content improvement project in astronomy (supported by the National Science Foundation), 1960-68
National Board of Editors, Nature and Science, a publication of the American Museum of Natural History, 1964-1970
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1963-
Member of the Council, American Association for the Advancement of Science, representing the American Educational Research Association, 1963-1968
Committeeman-at-large, Section Q (Education), American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1964-1968
Advisory Committee, New York University Conceptually Oriented Program in Elementary Science, 1965-1975
Advisory Committee, Intermediate Science Curriculum Study, Florida State University, 1966-1974
Editorial Associate, American Educational Research Association Monograph Series on Curriculum Evaluation, 1967-1971
Advisory Committee, Science Curriculum Improvement Study, University of California at Berkeley, 1968-1976
Secretary, Section Q (Education), American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1968-1970
President, Council for Elementary Science International, 1969-70
Editorial Board, Educational Theory, 1969-70
Recipient, Ford Foundation Award for study of primary education in England, May and June 1969
Issue Co-Editor, Review of Educational Research, Vol. 34, No. 3, June 1964; Vol 39, No. 4, October 1969
Consultant, Ford Foundation, Anglo-American Primary Education Project, 1969-1971
Board of Directors, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, 1970-1972
Consultant on Planning for the National Institute of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1971
Director, International Seminar on Curriculum Development Styles, University of Illinois (supported by the National Science Foundation), 1971
Executive Board, American Educational Research Association, 1972-1975
Consultant, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, several seminars and projects in Europe and Japan since 1970, including Handbook on Curriculum Development project (1973) and a major study of curriculum reform in member countries (1988-2000)
Recipient (with four colleagues), Ford Foundation grant to study educatial policy formulation in five Western European countries, 1973-76. (My responsibilities focused on the United Kingdom.)
Chairman, Section Q (Education), American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1973
Advisory Committee for Science Education, National Science Foundation, 1973-1976
Member, State of Illinois Teacher Certification Board, 1973-1976
Chairman, Committee on Governmental and Professional Liaison, American Educational Research Association, 1975-1977
Board of Editorial Advisors, Educational Researcher, 1978-1979
Witness, U. S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, S991 (establishment of the Department of Education), April 1978
U. S. Consultant Editor, World Yearbook of Education, London: Kogan Page, Ltd., 1978-1980
Member, 13-person delegation invited by the Ministry of Education, People's Republic of China, to study Chinese pre-college science education and develop recommendations, June and July, 1979
Ninth Sir John Adams Lecturer, University of London Institute of Education (Title of presentation: “The Government in the Classroom”), 6 March 1980.
National Panel on the High Schools, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1980-1983
Distinguished Alumnus Award, New York University, School of Education, 1984
Task Force on the Teaching Profession, Committee for Economic Development (“Investing in Our Children: Business and the Public Schools”), 1984-1985
Advisory Committee for Science and Engineering Education, National Science Foundation, 1984-1986; Vice Chairman, 1985-1986
National Commission for Excellence in Teacher Education, 1984-85
Senior Advisor to the National Science Foundation, Directorate for Science and Engineering Education, 1986-1987
Mathematical Sciences Education Board; National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1985-1989
Trustees' Visiting Committee, School of Education, University of Rochester, 1985-1987
Visiting Scholar, People's Republic of China, Sponsored by the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, April and May, 1987.
Project Director, Study of Collaboration among Public Schools, Universities, and Industry to Improve Education in the Sciences (supported by Carnegie Corporation), 1987-1992.
Witness, House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (National Science Foundation Re-authorization), 22 March 1988
Committee on Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education, Sigma Xi, 1989-94; Chair, 1991-94.
Lecturer, Invitational Program of the National Science Council, Republic of China (Taiwan), April 1989
Co-Chair (with Paul Black, King's College, University of London), International Steering Committee, OECD Study of Innovations in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Member Countries. Co-principal investigator for the U. S. phase of the study (supported by the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Education), 1989-1996.
Chair, Nominating Committee, American Educational Research Association, 1990.
Consensus Planning Committee, National Assessment of Educational Progress in Science (1994), 1990-91.
National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment (NCSESA); National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1992-1995
Associate Editor, Educational Action Research: an International Journal, 1992-2000.
Evaluator (with Inverness Research Associates) of YouthALIVE!, an initiative supported by the DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Fund to expand programs for under-served youth in about 35 children's and science museums, 1992-1994.
National Standards Committee: Technology for All Americans; International Technology Education Association, 1994-2000.
Consultant, Improving Education Quality Project, University of Durban Westville, South Africa, August-September, 1994.
Evaluator, LITES (Leadership Institute for Teaching Elementary Science), an initiative of Mills College to improve science teaching in Oakland, California, 1995-1998
Advisory Board, Institute for Inquiry, The Exploratorium, 1995-
Formation Committee, Center for Learning, The Tech Museum of Innovation (San Jose), 1996-
Committee on Science Education K-12 (COSE K-12). National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1996-2002; vice-chair, 1998-99; chair, 1999-2002.
Consultant, “Beyond 2000,” a project supported by the Nuffield Foundation to develop a framework for the next national science curriculum in England and Wales, 1998.
Principal Evaluator, Triad, a gender-equity initiative of the University of California at San Francisco in collaboration with the San Francisco Unified School District to enhance the interests of middle-school girls in science, supported by the National Science Folundation, 1998-2002
Evaluator, Yosemite National Institutes educational programs, 1998-2002
Principal Investigator, Classroom Assessment Project to Improve Teaching and Learning (CAPITAL), a four-year research project supported by the National Science Foundation, 2000-2004.
Chair, Committee on Classroom Assessment and the National Science Education Standards, Center for Education. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1999-2001.
National Associate, National Academy of Sciences, 2001 (lifetime appointment)
Chair, Committee on Assessment in Support of Instruction and Learning: Bridging the Gap Between Large-Scale and Classroom Assessment. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 2002-2003
Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement. Science Assessment Systems in Support of Student Learning. National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 2003-2005.
Principal Evaluator, Quattro, an initiative of the University of California at San Francisco, in cooperation with the San Francisco Unified School District, to assist English-language learners at the elementary-school level to learn science, supported by the National Institutes of Health, 2004-2007
Planning Committee, 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Science, 2004-2005.
Steering Committee, State of Washington Standards for Science, Kindergarten – Grade 12, 2009.
