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Minutes for the Phoenix meeting
of the Committee on International Education
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Members Present: Ramsey (chair), Drenchko, George, Gewanter, Haff,
Manos, Moore, Papacosta
Guests Present: Adair, Agarwal, Aubrecht, Brennan, Chesick, Clark,
Colwell, Erzberger, Fitzgibbons, Fuller, Gibson, Gottlieb, Halpern,
Jossem, Lotze, Menard, O'Kuma, Preese, Snyder, Tellez-Minor, Van Hise
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The meeting was called to order by the chair at 4:00 p.m. on Monday,
January 6, 1997.

Members and friends present introduced themselves, while the database
was passed around to be updated.

The minutes of the August meeting at the University of Maryland were
unanimously approved. (Motion: Gewanter, second: Drenchko)
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CHAIR'S REPORT:

Announcements:
1. Announcements were made about the committee sponsored events at the
Phoenix meeting.
2. A list of appropriate websites was given, including:
List of international research conferences
http://physics.umd.edu/robot
Home page for the Cordoba Argentina conference
http://www.cab.cnea.edu.ar/apfa/iacpe/iacpec.htm
GIREP home page http://pef.pef.uni-lj.si/~girep/

3. Information about joining GIREP (International Research Group on
Physics Teaching) can be obtained from Gordon Aubrecht (Ohio State-
Marion). Also see the September 1996 Announcer, page 84, for details.
4. Fuller Fund memberships to AAPT were awarded to: Maria Jose P. M. De
Almeida (Brazil), Alejandro Gonzalez Hernandez (Mexico), Khadeeja
Ibrahim-Didi (Maldives), Mikhail Ivanov (Russia) and A. Kul'ment'ev
(Ukraine).
For nomination forms, contact me (e-mail: gpr@hep.anl.gov) or AAPT
(phone: 301-209-3300).
5. Information on the International Center for Physics (CIF) in Bogota,
Columbia can be obtained from: Dr. Eduardo Posada (Director) at email
cifisica@cdcnet.uniandes.edu.co
This is a center for the promotion of physics training and research in
the Third World countries.
6. The committee website is up and running (thanks to Chris Moore).
It contains a list of members, the mission statement, a list of
international conferences and a link to the AAPT home page. The AAPT
executive office is working on cross-linking their home page to the
committee home pages.
Our home page can be reached by: http://www.unl.edu/physics/cie.html

Summary of completed projects/Status of continuing projects:

Copies of the 1996 Committee Annual Report and the AAPT Executive Board
comments were distributed. Highlights of some accomplishments:
1) The committee data base and e-mail lists have been updated.
2) The mission statement has been updated and is accessible on our web
site.
3) We sponsored a reception at the University of Maryland meeting for
members and international visitors, which was very well attended by
both groups.
4) The Announcer has been publishing our list of international
conferences.
5) A list of seven potential plenary speakers of international
reputation has been submitted to the Executive Board. They are listed
in the University of Maryland minutes, which were distributed at this
meeting.
6) Attempts are being made to contact the APS Forum on International
Physics and the European Physical Society, to initiate collaboration on
possible projects common to all groups. The Chair will keep the
committee informed on progress.
7) Our list of international contacts around the world has grown to
twenty different countries being represented. If anyone knows of an
international colleague who is interested in sharing information about
teaching conferences and programs in their country, please inform the
chair.
8) Nominations have been submitted for consideration to serve on the
committee and these have been forwarded to the Nominations Committee.
9) The committee endorsed and aided in obtaining NSF funding for a
delegation from the USA to visit Denmark and attend the Scandinavian
LMFK conference. Highlights of this conference were covered in a
session of the Phoenix meeting.

Anyone wanting a copy of the Annual Report may send me an e-mail or fax
message at e-mail gpr@hep.anl.gov, fax 773-508-3534.
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Reports on Phoenix Sessions:

1. Gordon Aubrecht reported on the morning session on "Physics Teaching
Around the World: Personal Perspectives". The session was moderately
well attended and was very informative. He recommended that we repeat
this event next year in New Orleans. The main thrust of this session
was to report on various international conferences that AAPT members
had attended in the last year or so.

2. Gordon Ramsey announced the upcoming session on highlights of the
LMFK conference in Sweden. There were five speakers at the session, who
had attended the conference.
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Guest Announcements:

1. Bob Fuller made an announcement about the passing of his father, for
whom the Fuller Fund is partially named. He has requested that an
obituary be printed in the Announcer.
2. Lila Adair reminded the committee that the Nominating Committee
should be notified if anyone is interested in serving on any of the
AAPT area committees. Any member can nominate any other or themselves
for committee membership.
3. Betty Preece announced the following meeting in Tokyo: XI
International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists, summer
1999. She will send more specific information to AAPT for
dissemination.
4. Simon George mentioned that the Indian Association of Physics
Teachers is interested in exchanging ideas on programs of common
interest.
5. Sheron Snyder informed the committee about a telescope project in
Chile, sponsored by Michigan State.
6. It was announced that the Citizen Ambassador Program is planning a
trip to India in May. There is no funding available and the cost is
just over $5000 for the two week trip. Various educational institutions
will be visited during the excursion. Arthur C. Washington is the
delegation leader. For information, contact the Citizen Ambassador
Program at: 509-534-0430.
7. Betty Preece recommended that the committee send out letters of
appreciation to the Stray Cats for their wonderful session at the
University of Maryland meeting. The committee endorsed this idea, so G.
Ramsey will take care of this.
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OLD BUSINESS:

1. G. Ramsey updated the committee on our contacts around the world. He
invited members and guests to submit names and e-mail addresses of
potential international colleagues who would be interested in sharing
physics teaching information in their area with AAPT. He stressed the
importance in sharing information internationally, and that one of the
aims of the committee is to provide this information to the AAPT
membership. So far, teachers from twenty countries are represented and
duplication of representatives is fine.
2. The tri-lateral conference (Germany-Hungary-USA) has been postponed
until 1998, due to conflicts of other meetings. Laszlo Baksay will
contact George Marx regarding the status of this meeting.
3. The AAPT Executive office has promised to cross-list our committee
web page on their home page. Recognition and commendation was given to
Chris Moore for setting up our committee web page. Frequency of
updating the page was discussed and it was decided that Chris would
decide on this issue. The committee seemed to lean toward a monthly
update, with information being added as it came in.

The following recommendations were made for items to be included on the
page:
(1) a brief summary of the minutes of the latest committee meeting,
(2) current list of contacts around the world
(3) invitation for volunteers to submit their names to serve on the
committee and a point of contact
(4) brief summaries of our participation in international meetings
(5) the latest Annual Report submitted to the AAPT Executive Board.
If there are further ideas, please notify the Chair.
4. A proposal was made to find speakers for plenary sessions at the
national AAPT meetings, who are from areas not represented on our
current list. This list was printed in the University of Maryland
minutes which was distributed at the meeting. Anyone wishing a copy may
contact the Chair.
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NEW BUSINESS:

1. A request for suggestions regarding sessions to sponsor at future
AAPT meetings was made by the Chair. The following sessions were
submitted:

Denver, August 11-16, 1997:
Poster: Progress in International Physics Teaching - G. Ramsey
Inv/Con: (Joint with Instructional Media) From Here to There: Uses of
Instructional Media in Physics Education (Invited Speaker from
Germany
Ulrich Harms, educational software developer) - N. Morley and
G.Ramsey
[Note: the motion to cosponsor this was made by D. Gewanter,
seconded
by J. Drenchko - passed unanimously]
Cracker Barrel: Making Connections with International Physics Teachers
-
B. Preece

New Orleans, January 3-8, 1998:
Inv/Con: Teaching Physics Around the World: Personal Perspectives - G.
Aubrecht
Inv/Con: Report on the 6th Inter-American Conference on Physics
Education in Cordoba, Argentina - H. Manos, R. B. Clark and T. Halpern

2. Abstract deadlines are: Apr. 7 for the Denver meeting and Sep. 12
for
the New Orleans meeting. Call for papers deadline for the New Orleans
meeting is April 7 for the July 1997 Announcer.
3. A recommendation was made to have a report on GIREP and the Tri-
Lateral conference (with Germany and Hungary) for the January 1999
meeting. Proceedings of GIREP conferences are available. Contact Gordon
Aubrecht.
4. A suggestion was made to encourage visiting physicists from other
countries to share their views on our educational system at the AAPT
meetings. In particular, it would be appropriate for those visitors who
are at institutions near the location of our meeting to be notified of
this opportunity. Prior planning is required, since abstracts have to
be in about four months prior to the meeting.
5. A potential project was discussed regarding the compilation of a
list of international journals related to physics teaching. Since there
is only a limited number of those in English which would be applicable
and since most of the important information is available on the web, it
was decided not to pursue this project.
6. A question was raised regarding the establishment of UNESCO
contacts.
Since the US is not a member of UNESCO, it was commented that it may
not be wise to attempt official contacts. However, much of the
information to be gained through such interaction would likely be
available from our
international contacts.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
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I wish to thank Pan Papacosta for taking notes from which I could
tickle my memory for writing these minutes. The accuracy is my
responsibility, but the credit for the work during the meeting goes to
Pan.

Submitted by G. Ramsey