European Physical Society

PHYSICS EDUCATION DIVISION

PRE-UNIVERSITY SECTION

Meeting in the New Cavendish Club in London
on Saturday 17 February 2001

Apology:
A. Olme (Sweden)

1. The new division

2. Activities of the Section

1. European conference on science education at the primary level
   Note was taken of the outcome of the 'Physics on Stage' festival held at CERN
   in September 2000 and it was agreed that a European conference on science
   education at the primary level should be held during 2002.

   Rosemary Feasy (who had chaired the Working Group on Science
   Education at the Primary Level at 'Physics on Stage') agreed to be the
   Chairman of the Planning Committee for such a conference and that she
   would produce a paper for consideration by the Committee.

2. European conference on teaching training
   It was agreed that a conference on teacher training should be held in 2003;
   that it should be concerned with both pre-service training and in-service
   training. It was unanimously agreed that dr. Harry Eijkelhof be invited to
   be chairman of the planning committee for the conference.
3. A survey of physics education in European schools
   It was agreed that there was a need for a EUPEN-style survey of physics
   education throughout European schools. It was noted that Malvern College
   was willing to provide the necessary accomodation for the project and that
   T.D.R. Hickson would be willing to direct this survey. He was asked to
   produce a plan for the project in the hope that the necessary work could
   begin in 2003 and the funding for the project could be obtained.
4. Continuing support for biographical posters
   Warm approval was given to the series of posters already produced. It was
   noted that it was intended to make a sample of the posters freely available
   through the Internet. It was hoped that the access to them would be such that
   down-loading from the Internet would be freely available. It was suggested
   that a bound copy of the posters be made available to each national society
   within EPS so that posters could be translated into appropriate languages
   and then be made available on the Internet or on a CD-ROM.
5. Posters on the relevance of physics to society
   It was agreed that the production of a series of posters to promote better
   public understanding of physics and its relevance to society should be
   developed. It was agreed that the biographical posters were primarily
   aimed at 12-14 years olds, but these further posters should be aimed at 16-18
   year old students.

   It had been suggested that different physical societies might be encouraged
   to produce posters on themes such as physics and the environment, physics and
   wealth creation, physics and sport, physics and misic, etc.. It was noted that the
   Institute of Physics was considering whether it might accept responsibility
   for a series on the theme physics and medicine but in the first instance they
   hoped to produce three sample posters.

   It was hoped that the wording would be kept brief so that the posters could
   the more easily be translated into various languages and that there should be
   emphasis on bright and clear illustration.

6. Teacher exchange scheme
   It was agreed that the teacher exchange scheme initiated by Alf Oelme
   should be given further publicity and that it should continue to be promoted.

   It was accepted that it would be more easily accessible to teachers if it were
   a one-to-one interchange rather than two teachers from one school changing
   with two teachers from another school. The value of such short one-week
   exchanges was rated very high by the Committee from the experience
   already obtained.

7. Physics education website
   It was agreed that details about the new Division should be included in
   a physics education website controlled by dr. Eddy Lingeman in the
   Netherlands.

   It was agreed that there should be cross links with the website based at
   Mulhouse; that there should be links with the websites produced by various
   national societies for science teachers (e.g. the Association for Science
   Education in the UK) and the national physical societies themselves.

8. The International Young Physicists Tournament
   It was agreed that the Section should continue to support the IYPT annual
   tournament. It was noted with pleasure that Professor Tibell had become
   President of the Tournament (Finland 2001).

3. Other Proposals

The committee hoped that there would be a significant contribution from
education in the Conference itself. Although it welcomed a pre-Congress
conference for teachers, it hoped that it would not be too limited in scope.

4. Membership of the division

Communication with members of the Division would probably be through
e-mail. It was accepted that in years ahead it would be necessary for the
membership of the Division to elect members of the various committees
within the Division. A programme for this should be decided with the
Executive Committee of EPS.

5. Conclusion