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Minutes for the New Orleans meeting
of the Committee on International Education
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Members Present: Ramsey (chair), Baksay, Cook, Drenchko, Haff,
Papacosta
Guests Present: Adair, Aubrecht, Chesick, Chow, Dickison, Fitzgibbons,
Gibson, Gottlieb, Gupta, Jossem, Manos, Martinez, Menard, Preese,
Robertson, Saxon, Schultz, Torres-Isea, Van Hise, Wall, Weathers, Yan
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The meeting was called to order by the chair at 6:04 p.m. on Monday,
January 5, 1998.

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 Denver were unanimously approved. (Motion: Drenchko,
second: Papacosta.)
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CHAIR'S REPORT:
Announcements:
1. Future AAPT meetings were announced so that the committee could plan
for future sessions:
Summer Univ. of Neb. August 1998
Winter Anaheim, CA January 1999
Joint Atlanta, GA March 1999 APS Centennial
Summer San Antonio August 1999
Winter Orlando, FL January 2000
Summer Ontario, Canada July 2000
Winter San Diego, CA January 2001 with Astron. Soc.

2. The incoming Chair (Joe Drenchko) was introduced, as well as the new
committee members (Bernadine Cook and Ed Finn). G. Ramsey thanked the
outgoing members (Marcelo Alonso and David Gewanter) for their service.

3. AAPT Executive Committee Announcements
a. Deadlines for workshops and sessions have been moved up to
provide more time for planning, which requires committees to plan
two meetings ahead instead of one. Deadlines for winter meetings
will be May 1st prior to the meeting and for summer meetings,
will
be October 15th prior to that meeting.
b. The new fee structure for workshops and contributed papers
($35) was announced. Also members giving invited talks will pay
the same abstract fee as for contributed papers.
c. Workshop with low enrollments at the deadline date listed in
the Announcer will be canceled.
d. Each member may present a maximum of one invited talk and one
contributed talk at a meeting. The name of the presenter will be
listed first in a multi-author paper.
e. The sponsor or presenter of a poster paper must be registered
for the meeting and be present during the poster session.
f. Members are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts
electronically to reduce the AAPT staff workload.
g. Only overhead projectors will be provided free at paper
sessions. There will be a fee for any other media equipment.
h. AAPT should move toward standardizing all meetings such that
workshops will be held on Saturday and Sunday, while oral and
poster sessions will be restricted to Monday through Wednesday.

4. Upcoming International Conferences:
a. XI International Conference of Women Engineers and
Scientists,
Tokyo, Japan,1999.
b. Hands-on Experiments in Physics Education, Duisburg, Germany,
23-28 August 1998- for information see:
http://www.uni-duisburg.de/FB10/DDPH/girep/girepeng.html
c. IV International Teachers of Physics Conference, Colonia del
Sacramento, Uruguay, 21-26 September 1998- for information:
http://www.geocities.com/researchtriangle/9259/apfu.htm
d. International Conference on STS: Science and Society
Technological Turn, Tokyo, Japan, 16-22 March 1998
e. Teaching Conference, India, Oct., 1998: contact Simon George
The Chair encouraged members and friends to submit full information on
international conferences to him as soon as it is available, so that it
can be published on the committee website and the AAPT Announcer.

5. A summary of the VI InterAmerican Conference (Argentina) is
available on its website-
http://www.cabbat1.cnea.edu.ar/iacpe/iacpei.htm
The next IACPE meeting will be in Brazil in the year 2000. More
detailed information will be circulated by the committee as it becomes
available.

6. IOP Physics website - service and information provided by the
Institute of Physics in Great Britain. http://physicsweb.org

7. A letter from Sugimoto of the Stray Cats was received by the Chair.
He sent a copy of a book of demonstrations in Japanese and requested
that we try to find a suitable translator. The hope is to distribute
the book throughout the English speaking nations for wider
dissemination. Clarence Bennett indicated that he knew a suitable
candidate and would check into the matter. Alex Dickison suggested
that this could possibly be funded through the AAPT Venture Fund.

8. Our web page contains such information as committee membership, the
mission statement, Fuller Fund information, workshop guidelines, recent
meeting minutes and information on upcoming international conferences
relating to physics teaching. The Annual Report will also be added.

9. Contacts around the world: the present Chair will distribute this
list in an appropriate manner as soon as it is updated. Also see New
Business.

10. In the interest of interaction and efficiency, we have combined the
three follow-up meetings, (US-China-Japan, InterAmerican and US-Danish-
Scandinavian) into one. There are many commonalities between these
groups, including most of the attendees. Time will be left at the end
for the separate groups to discuss plans for future meetings, etc.

11. Prof. Xingkai Luo of Guilin, China has indicated an interest in
bringing his group to an AAPT meeting for a demonstration show, similar
to the Stray Cats from Japan. He and G. Ramsey are working together to
coordinate this visit. Tentatively, the summer meeting of 2000 is being
discussed.

Summary of completed projects/Status of continuing projects:

Copies of the 1997 Committee Annual Report were distributed. Highlights
of some accomplishments:
1) The committee data base and e-mail lists have been updated.
2) Five Fuller Fund awards were made. A list is in the Annual Report.
3) The Announcer has been publishing our list of international
conferences.
4) 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.
5) Letters of appreciation were sent to each of the Stray Cats from
Japan for their excellent show at the University of Maryland meeting.
6) 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. See New Business for further information.
7) Nominations have been submitted for consideration to serve on the
committee and these have been forwarded to the Nominations Committee.
8) A number of US delegates attended the VI IACPE Conference in
Argentina. Highlights were given at a session at this meeting.
9) The web has been updated with Minutes and workshop guidelines.
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Reports on New Orleans Sessions:

1. Inv/Con: Report on the 6th Inter-American Conference on Physics
Education in Cordoba, Argentina - H. Manos, R. B. Clark and T. Halpern
Reported by Harry Manos.

2. Gordon Ramsey announced the upcoming session on a variety of topics
related to physics education in many countries: Session CE, Regency
Ballroom B Tues 9:15 am, "Teaching Physics Around the World: Personal
Perspectives" - G. Aubrecht, Chair.

3. The Joint International Conferences Reunion was advertised (see item
10, Chair's Report)- Tuesday, 7-8:30 pm, Versailles Room.
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Guest Announcements:

1. Richard Reimann made an announcement about an international
conference in Moscow State University in June, 1998: "Modern Problems
and Achievements in Undergraduate Physics". Contact him for
information at: rreimann@atlas.idbsu.edu

2. Dean Zollman briefed the committee on an international project on
"Scientific and Cultural Aspects of the Bicycle: Investigations with
International Teams Using Interactive Technologies". Five US
universities and a similar European contingent will be participating.
Contact Dean, Bob Fuller or David Winch for more information. Talks
will be given on this subject at the New Orleans and Nebraska AAPT
meetings.

3. Laszlo Baksay mentioned that the Germans are interested in having a
joint conference with Hungary and the USA dealing with teacher
education with the theme of Creativity in Physics. Specifics are in
the planning stage. He also announced the centennial celebration of
Leo Szillard at the APS/AAPT joint meeting in Columbus, Ohio in April.
There are four invited speakers scheduled.
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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. Web page: The following recommendations were made as to items which
could be included on the page:
(1) current list of contacts around the world
(2) invitation for volunteers to submit their names to serve on the
committee and a point of contact
(3) brief summaries of our participation in international meetings
If there are further ideas, please notify the Chair.

3. The committee has submitted names of speakers for plenary sessions
at the national AAPT meetings. It was suggested that persons submitting
names stay in charge of contacting these individuals periodically for
availability at our meetings and to search for topics which would be
appropriate to our membership. In particular, if these individuals
will be visiting the US during one of our meetings, this presents a
strong case for scheduling the speaker at the meeting. Note that the
speakers are chosen by the Area Chairs and Executive Board at the
meeting(s) prior to the scheduled talk.
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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 ideas were
submitted:
a. Take fives by international attendees
b. Use of Multimedia and Information Technologies (web) in teaching
physics throughout the world - joint sponsorship with Media
Committee, as in Denver
c. Teaching physics to students where English is their second
language
d. G. Aubrecht and H. Manos will sponsor a session in Anaheim on
Physics Teaching Around the World: Personal Perspectives.
e. We are still planning to sponsor a reception for international
visitors at the San Antonio meeting (summer, 1999) due to its
close proximity with Mexico.

2. Abstract deadlines are: Apr. 17 for the Nebraska meeting and Sep. 4
for the Anaheim meeting.

3. Alex Dickerson briefed the committee on the status of the Fuller
Fund. It currently has $10,000 and is able to fund eight memberships
per year. Eligible countries are listed on the web. Nominations should
be made by August and the chosen individuals are notified. Last year,
five nominations were selected, but only one responded. He solicited
further nominations. If anyone wishes to nominate someone from one of
these countries, forms are available through AAPT or are able to be
downloaded from the committee website:
http://www.unl.edu/physics/cie.html

4. New contacts initiative (G. Ramsey) - In order to expand our
international contacts and receive timely information about
conferences, I initiated a project where each member is responsible for
an area of the world (or set of countries) in which they are
responsible for gathering this information. This should be related to
their specific interests. The committee members have received their
"assignments" and should report their information to the committee
Chair, who will forward it to the appropriate people. I have
volunteered to coordinate this project, even after Joe takes over as
Chair.

5. It was suggested that the AAPT office identify participants from
outside the USA, so that the Chair can invite them to the committee
meeting and other sponsored events.

6. G. Ramsey, the outgoing Chair, thanked the members and friends of
the committee for their hard work and support during his two years as
Chair. He introduced the new Chair, Joe Drenchko and wished him luck.

7. Joe recommended that friends and members thank Gordon for his
"outstanding" work as Chair.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
===============================================================
I wish to thank Pan Papacosta for taking notes, which enabled me to
write these minutes. The accuracy is my responsibility, but the credit
for the work during the meeting goes to Pan.

Submitted by G. Ramsey