The International Commission on Physics Education
A. P. FRENCH
Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139. U.S. A.
ABSTRACT. This article describes the work of the International Commission during the twenty years since its inauguration at Unesco in Paris. and gives an account of the major conferences and seminars for which it has been responsible.
1. Origins
It is almost always instructive to look back into the circumstances and motivations that accompany the birth of any particular activity or organization. This is certainly true in research, where the ideas of the pioneers, however incomplete and imperfect, provide the stimulus for all that follows. It is equally true, I believe, for the much more delicate and elusive field of education. Therefore, I make no apology for beginning this article with a reminder of the origins of the most nearly global organization that exists to serve the cause of education in physics..
Just about twenty years ago, at the end of July, 1960, there was held an International Conference on Physics Education. Nothing comparable to it had happened before. It took place at Unesco House, in Paris, under the auspices of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, the National Science Foundation of the U.S.A., the Asia Foundation, and Unesco. The conference was attended by 86 participants, representing 28 different countries.
The conference, which discussed many different aspects of physics education, ended by formulating a number of resolutions, amongst which was the following:
"We recommend to the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics that it should take appropriate action, possibly in collaboration with other international organizations, to establish an international committee of professional physicists to accept responsibility for:
- The collection, evaluation, and co ordination of information and the stimulation of experiments at all levels of physics education.
- The suggesting of ways in which the facilities for the study of physics at all levels might be improved in various countries.
- The collection and evaluation of information on methods used for the assessment of standards of performance of students of physics and for the evaluation of the qualifications and effectiveness of teachers of physics.
- The giving of help to teachers in incorporating modern knowledge in their courses.
- The promotion of the exchange of information and ideas among all countries by methods that would include the holding of international conferences.”
Before the end of the same year (1960) the International Commission on Physics Education came into official existence as the 15th commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The Paris conference is in fact generally regarded as having been the first project of the new Commission: certainly the membership of the new Commission came from the chief organizers of that conference.
2. Organization and programmes
As a creature of IUPAP, the Commission on Physics Education fell into a pattern already fairly well defined by the commissions already in existence. Its members, initially seven in number, came each from a different country of the IUPAP family, which now ( 1980) includes 37 nations. The membership of the Commission comes up for review once every three years at a IUPAP General Assembly; at the present time there are twelve full members and three associate members. The Commission tries to meet at least once a year, but budgetary limitations prohibit anything more ambitious; the meetings are often linked to the holding of a conference on some aspect of physics education.
In view of the Commission's general field of interest, it is not surprising that it has had from the beginning, and throughout its existence to date, a strong tie with Unesco. In addition, the Commission has served as a collaborator with Unesco in the production of major publications on physics education — notably the volumes entitled New Trends in Physics Teaching about once every four years.
The chief function of the Commission, in conformity with the stated aim of IUPAP generally, has been the organizing and facilitating of international conferences. The main emphasis has been on the teaching of physics at secondary (high school) and tertiary (college or university) levels. (These conferences are listed and described later in the article.) However, the Commission has been broadly concerned with all the matters identified in the founding statement reproduced above. Thus, for example, it worked closely with Unesco in the production of a detailed survey ( 1966) of the teaching of physics at universities in different countries. And in promoting exchange of information about physics education, one of its most successful projects has been the publication, about twice a year since 1977, of an international newsletter containing announcements of meetings, descriptions of physics education projects, etc., based on information supplied by correspondents from around the world. This newsletter, financially supported by Unesco, is sent free of charge to a mailing list of about 1000 individuals and organizations.
