Loyola University Chicago

Department of Physics

Minutes for the Anaheim meeting of the Committee on International Education

Minutes for the Anaheim meeting
of the Committee on International Education
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Members Present: Drenchko (Chair), Chow, Haff, Moore, Papacosta
Guests Present: Baksay, Chesick, Fitzgibbons, Hollenbeck, Jossem, Manos,
O'Kuma, Preece, Ramsey (past chair), Snyder, Van Hise
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 11, 1999.

Members and friends present introduced themselves.

The minutes of the summer meeting at the University of Nebraska were
unanimously approved. (Moved: Haff, second: Chow).

CHAIR'S REPORT:
Programs I committee meeting announcements were made:
(1) Money for meetings is tight - AAPT has experienced losses at workshops.
Fees have increased for all meetings and any workshops that do not have a
minimum enrolment by a set deadline will be canceled. For questions, contact
Carol Heimpel of AAPT: cheimpel@aapt.org
(2) Meeting formats have also changed - workshops and sessions may
overlap. The Board is tending toward "leaner" meetings. Starting with the
summer, 1999 meeting, the total duration will be cut to five days, replacing
the present 5 1/2 days. The Board is also trying to find ways to encourage
increased attendance at the meetings. Possibilities include merging satellite
meetings, such as PERC and PTYC. Comments and suggestions for future meetings
are welcome. Contact any member of the executive board (listed in the
Announcer).
(3) Session forms for future meetings are available on the Web. These may be
submitted directly to AAPT via the Web. If anyone desires committee
sponsorship, a copy should be mailed to the Chair, Joe Drenchko.

Status of continuing projects
(1) Contacts Around the World project - (old business)
(2) Ideas for standing and future sessions (new business)
(3) Web page-logistics for committee page (new business)
=======================================================================
REPORT on Anaheim Session:
Sponsored session: PTAW: Personal Perspectives - L. Jossem, chair
(contributed). The talks and attendance were very good and generated
interesting discussions.
=======================================================================
OLD BUSINESS:

Upcoming international conferences:
(1) Fifth International Conference, "Physics in the System of Modern
Education" (PSME-99) held by UNESCO, Ministry of General and Professional
Education RF, Moscow State University, Herzen State Pedagogical University of
Russia. Dates: June, 21-25, 1999
Location: Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Moyka 48,
St. Petersburg, Russia
Contact: Prof. Yury Gorochovatski . E-mail: icei.spb@sovcust.sprint.com
(2) The VII IACPE meeting will be held in Porto Alegre Brazil (Gramado State)
from July 3 - 7, 2000. The working title is "The Preparation of Physicists
and Physics Teachers in Contemporary Society.
Email for the conference is: IACPE7@IF.UFRGS.BR
Information: http://cabbat1.cnea.gov.ar/iacPE/iacpei.htm
NOTE: J. Fitzgibbons and B. Khoury are preparing an NSF proposal for travel
support. Any assistance or suggestions would be welcome.

(3) The XIV International Conference for Physics Students (ICPS'99) will be
held in Helsinki, Finland from August 14-20, 1999. This conference is
sponsored by IAPS and the SPS. The conference language is English.
For information contact: SPS IAPS Committee, AIP, One Physics Ellipse,
College Park, MD 20740.

(4) TURNING THE CHALLENGE INTO OPPORTUNITIES: The Historic Mission of
Physics Teachers for the Next Millennium. August 18-23, 1999, Guilin, China.
Organizer: Prof. LUO Xingkai, Institute of Physics Education, Guangxi Normal
University. E-mail: xkluo@mailbox.gxnu.edu.cn

(5) XXVII Biennial General Meeting of the Spanish Physical Society, September
20-24, 1999, Valencia, Spain.
Organizer: Prof. Antonio Ferrer, Institute of Particle Physics,
University of Valencia.

(6) International Conference on Science Education for 21st Century. June
22-25, Szeged, Hungary. Website- http://www.jate.uszeged.hu/~scied/
Organizer: Dr. Katalin Papp, Attila Josef University, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary

(7) The Fourth Latin-American School on Research on Physics Education
IV ESCUELA LATINOAMERICANA DE INVESTIGACION EN ENSEDANZA DE LA FISICA
September20-October 1, 1999. Universidad de Antioquia, MEDELLIN COLOMBIA.
A.A 1226 Tels: 2105660 - 2105655 - 2105630
Fax: (0574)2330120 - (0574)2105666

(8) Central American and Caribbean Physics Course: CURSO CENTROAMERICANO Y DEL
CARIBE DE FISICA (CURCCAF). La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala; November 22 to
December 3, 1999.
Contact: Dr. Eduardo M. Alvarez, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala,
ealvarez@kirika.uvg.edu.gt

(9) The British Columbia Association of Physics Teachers (BC Section of
the AAPT) will be hosting a seminar for physics teachers: 19-23 July, 1999.
Title: Teaching Physics Using Interactive Teaching Methods and Computers
Place: Columbia College, Vancouver, B.C.
Deadlines: Initial application: May 15, 1999;
Complete registration and payment by May 27, 1999
Course fee: $400 (Canadian) per person.
For further information please contact:
http://www.columbiacollege.bc.ca/Physics_Seminar
e-mail: phys1999@columbiacollege.bc.ca

(10) The Tri-lateral conference is planned for 2001. L. Baksay needs a
US volunteer for planning a series of these meetings with Hungary and
Germany.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Potential plenary speakers for AAPT meetings:

Suggestions for international plenary and evening session speakers at
future AAPT meetings can be teaching or research oriented, if the topic is
of suitable interest to the general membership. Various members have
submitted names for possible future AAPT meetings. The following names have
been submitted to the executive board for future consideration. (thanks to:
M. Alonso, J. Fitzgibbons, H. Manos and A. Menard).
George Marx - Eotvos University, Hungary
Archie Fox - Scotland
Brian Woolnaugh - Oxford Science Teaching Center
Sven Sjoberg - University of Oslo
Eduardo Posada - International Center for Theoretical Physics,
Bogota
Walter Stuhrner - Max Planck Institute (Experimental Medicine)
Lenart Samulson - Sweden
Sandor Szalay - Eotvos University, Hungary (Astrophysics-large
scale structure of the universe); also visits Johns Hopkins U.

It is strongly suggested that if any of these scientists visit the US, that
the nominators contact them for possible participation at the AAPT meeting as
a plenary speaker. This can then be forwarded to the Programs Committee for
consideration.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Contacts Around the World" project - G. Ramsey solicited ideas for the
continuing project, whereby committee members are assigned a region of the
world to solicit information on international meetings and projects, which
can be disseminated via the Announcer and by e-mail. E. Finn volunteered for
South Amebbean islands. C. Moore, our Web coordinator, will place this on the
Web page, with the e-mail address to contact with information (G. Ramsey):
gpr@hep.anl.gov

An e-mail reminder will be sent out to members and friends, requesting this
type of information.
========================================================
NEW BUSINESS:

Web Page/logistics:
Our Web master, C. Moore, will soon be moving to Wisconsin and has requested
that AAPT physically house the site, while it will still be maintained by the
International Committee. Warren Hein of the AAPT executive office was
contacted. He expressed the concern that the AAPT staff would be tasked to
maintain and update the sites if they were located at the AAPT headquarters
(at least by default). The dialog with AAPT will continue, to establish
guidelines for locating committee sites at AAPT and establishing
responsibilities for maintaining the sites from remote locations by committee
members. It is likely that this topic will have to be considered by the
Executive Committee.

Items, which we have posted on our committee site, include: the committee
mission statement, committee member list, international meeting list, former
committee meeting minutes and Fuller Fund information.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Future meetings:

AAPT Summer meeting in San Antonio (Trinity University), 3-7 August, 1999:
Sponsored session: Reception - This is intended for international and local
visitors, who do not normally attend AAPT meetings, to meet members and AAPT
staff.

Other upcoming AAPT meetings:
1. Winter- January 15-19, 2000: Kissimmee, FL
Sponsored session: B. Preece and C. Chow will organize a session on "Physics
Teaching Around the World-Personal Perspectives." (Invited/Contributed)
2. Summer- July 29-August 2, 2000: Guelph, Ontario, Canada
3. Winter- January 2001: San Diego, CA (with Astronomical Society)
------------------------------------------------------------------
A discussion on future receptions was held. It was decided to pursue the
idea of combining the joint international collaboration follow-up
meetings (e.g. US-China-Japan, Inter-American and US-Scandinavian) with a
reception for all international visitors on a regular basis. The AAPT
staff could provide the committee with names of the registered visitors from
around the world, so that they could be notified. Pan Papacosta and Betty Preece
will look into this and work with the AAPT staff for funding and
planning.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Robertson will bring a delegation of two-year college representatives
from the US to the LFMK meeting in Norway this July. These will be teachers
in physics, chemistry and biology.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Nominations for new members of the committee:
The chair maintains the nomination list and has forms for submission to
the Nomination Committee. Anyone wishing to nominate AAPT members for
committee membership may contact the chair at: drenchko@phy.syr.edu
(check address)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Other new business:

1. C. Chow announced that the Citizens Ambassador Program was planning a trip
to China in June, 1999. The participants must pay expenses.

2. (J. Fitzgibbons). Information on IACPE meetings (past and future) is
available on the IACPE Website-
http://www.cabbat1.cnea.edu.ar/iacpe/iacpei.htm (English version).
The next IACPE meeting is scheduled for Brazil in the year 2000.

3. (L. Jossem). There is an international newsletter on physics education
available from its editor, J. Redish (University of Maryland). To subscribe
(free) send an e-mail message to him at: redish@physics.umd.edu

There are other physics education articles on the Web at URL:
http://www.physics.umd.edu/ripe/
Adding icpe to the above URL, will allow Web access to the newsletter.
Questions may be referred to Len Jossem at: jossem@mps.ohio-state.edu

The meeting was adjourned (Motion: Haff, Second: Chow) at 7:10 p.m.
=================================================================
Submitted by G. Ramsey