Illinois
Section
American Association of Physics Teachers
Minutes of the Spring Council
Meeting
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Room SL 1218
April 9, 2005
The meeting was called to order at
7:15 a.m. with
Kimberly Shaw presiding. In attendance were Bill Hogan, Rob Mason, Eric
Peterson, Diana L. Roth, Troy Gobble, Roger Reeves, Chris LaRoche, Dave
Renneke, Ken Mellendorf, Benjamin L. Brown, Brian Davies, Ann Brandon,
Debby Lojkutz, Ray Bugayong, and Carl Wenning.
Secretary-Treasurer Report:
Carl noted that the minutes from the autumn meeting had been approved
online, and had also been published in the spring edition of the
Illinois Physics Teacher. He provided copies of the minutes as well as a
written Treasurer's report. He noted that the ISAAPT continues to do
well financially with a current balance of $4,684.52. This balance
includes costs associated with the latest issue of the Illinois Physics
Teacher and the Outstanding High School Physics Teacher award and
plaque. Carl further noted that he is still working on incorporation,
and seeking insurance for the Section. He suggested that savings on
reduced distribution of the newsletter (see below) would partially
offset incorporation and insurance costs. It was agreed that the ISAAPT
attempt to increase active membership roles by recruiting high school
physics teachers, many of whom have never heard about the ISAAPT.
Council members with high school physics teacher e-mail addresses are
asked to send them to David Renneke. It was further agreed that the
president, president-elect, past-president, secretary/treasurer, and
section representative would constitute the legal fiduciaries of the
Section as required for incorporation. Carl will provide an update
through the listserv shortly on incorporation and insurance matters, and
ask for approval at that time to spend the requisite amounts for
achieving the desired goals.
Section Representative Report:
Eric Peterson provided a written report from the Albuquerque winter
meeting. He noted attempts to increase membership presence at and
participation in the work of national meetings, interjected information
about the Illinois high School Teachers Pipeline Report, and noted that
Alaska has been accepted as a new section of the AAPT, and provided
information about an apparatus competition. The full Section
Representative's report can be found on the Section's website.
Representative to the AAPT High School
Committee Report: Ann Brandon provided a report from the AAPT High
School Committee. She noted that the committee's publications have
finally made it through the publication board, and booklets are now
available relating to high school teachers and lab activities in the
high school. Efforts are still being expended on updating a new teachers
packet first initiated some 30 years ago. Individual copies of
publications are free to members online via download; single copies may
by acquired by request directly to the AAPT. The usual high school
activities continue to do well; the recent photo contest, for instance,
had some 500 entries. The video contest is similarly successful. Both
have rules posted on the AAPT website. The PTRA program continues to do
well; the HS committee is being limited in the number of workshops it
may present at national meetings (as are other committees) as a way to
limit costs. Ann has been formally appointed to the HS Committee
starting with the Salt Lake City meeting.
Publicity Chair, Section Editor, and Webmaster
Report: Dave Renneke noted that things are "back on track" with
getting Section reports included in The Announcer, even though there is
typically a six-month delay in the getting the information published.
Operations with the Section's web page continue to move along well.
Newsletter Report: Roger
Reeves noted the recent publication of the Illinois Physics Teacher. He
indicated that it is currently being distributed in hard copy to about
450 addresses. He further noted that an effort is being undertaken to
reduce the number of copies so that they go only to recent dues-paying
members or those who indicate a desire to be on the mailing list. Carl
noted that only about 20 or so non-dues paying members have made
requests to remain on the mailing list. This should reduce the hard copy
distribution to about 100 or so copies. Carl will reduce the membership
list to include only those who have been involved with the Section in
some way during the past 5 years, as well as those who have requested to
remain in the database. Dave Renneke, however, will continue to maintain
a complete e-mail list. It was agreed that teacher educators and others
with e-mail contacts for high school physics teachers should send their
listings to Dave so that he can increase the size of the e-mail
database. Carl will conduct a mailing using a "brightly colored
postcard" during mid-September to promote membership in the ISAAPT among
the 450 or so Illinois high school physics teachers. The postcard will
note the autumn meeting, and direct readers to the Section's webpage.
Lastly, Roger indicated that he would be retiring at the end of the next
school year and therefore will stepping down as newsletter editor
following the autumn issue. A new newsletter editor will have to be
found.
Outstanding High School Physics Teacher Award:
This year's recipient was Michael Kennedy. Diana Roth noted that the
selection process had again worked quite well. The process, she noted,
has moved from paper, to e-mail, to the Section's web page over the past
three years as necessitated by the success of the program. Working
through Regional Offices of Education, 15 new nominations were received
this year. Diana, too, noted that she would now be stepping down from
chairing this position, and asked that a new volunteer be appointed.
Several names were brought up (CP, SW, FZ) and Kimberly will pursue
getting a volunteer from this listing.
Committee for the Distinguished Service
Citation Report: Roger Reeves and Carl Wenning noted that no
nominations had been received to date. They encouraged nominations of
worthy individuals.
SIUE Meeting Report:
Kimberly Shaw noted that the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences had
provided $1,300 in support for the meeting, and that this included $225
for the Student Research Symposium awards. There will be a total of 15
student papers presented at this meeting.
Ad Hoc Committee
on High School Physics Teachers:
Carl Wenning briefly reported on the success of the autumn special
session, and noted that the work of the committee continues with an
ongoing survey of PTE programs. Carl indicated that high degree of
interest in the work of the committee has been shown by the AIP
Statistical Research Center (Patrick Mulvey), PhysTEC (Ted Hodapp) and
AAPT (Warren Hein). There will be an hour-long follow-up discussion
during the morning events at the SIUE meeting.
Future Meetings: Troy
Gobble noted that planning continues for the autumn section meeting at
Riverside-Brookfield High School October 28-29, 2005. Leon Lederman has
agreed to be the keynote speaker; he will focus on the Physics First
initiative. There will be a special roundtable discussion dealing with
the norms of high school physics teaching; council members in teacher
education or high school teaching especially will be asked to
participate in this meeting in a significant way. (It was generally
agreed - but not acted upon - that spring Section meetings henceforth
should focus on scientific research and that the autumn section meetings
should focus on physics pedagogy.) The Riverside-Brookfield meeting will
be a joint meeting with the Chicago section, and will incorporate the
2005 Year of Physics theme in some way. The spring 2006 meeting will be
held at Illinois Central College in East Peoria with Ken Mellendorf
hosting. He hopes to incorporate a theme attractive to high school
physics teachers as well. Eric Peterson offered to host the spring 2007
meeting as a possible joint Section meeting with Wisconsin; this new
offer was accepted. The fall 2006 meeting at Rock Island with Gary
Wolber is contingent upon the Section having the appropriate liability
insurance in place at the time of the meeting.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned
at 8:22 a.m.
Carl J. Wenning
Secretary-Treasurer
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