VII Interamerican Conference on Physics Education
Minutes of the Executive Council Meeting # 1 - July 3, 2000, Canela, Brazil
Attending members (13):
Brazil: Marco A. Moreira, Deysi Miranda, Ana Maria Pessoa.
Argentina: Alberto Maiztegui, Leonor Cudmani.
Uruguay: Amadeo Sosa.
Chile: Ricardo Buzzo.
Mexico: Héctor Riveros.
USA: Teodoro Halpern, John Fitzgibbons.
Colombia: Rodrigo Covaleda.
Venezuela: Maite Andrés (Council President), Celso Ladera.
Absent Members (7): James Conrad (Council Executive Secretary), María Ligatto, Amarnath Kshatriya, Victor Latorre, Jorge Antillón, Irene Aguilar, Ernesto Martinez.
1) Activities performed by the President during the period July 1997 — July 2000.
Sent four messages to the members of the council, with the following objectives:
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March 1998: to communicate the need to elect a new Secretary. The incorporation of new information to the webpage is announced.…
April 1998: to communicate the results of the election of the new Secretary. Results: 10 agree, 0 disagree, 9 didn’t answer. Executive Secretary: James Conrad (USA).…
November 1998: to announce the theme of the VII Conference.…
February 1999: to announce the place and date of the VII Conference: Canela, Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 3 to 7, 20002) Proposal for new members to join the Council.
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Maite Andrés recommends Leda Roldán for Costa Rica. Leda Roldán is a member of the College of Physicists of Costa Rica, and works at the University of Costa Rica, Bachelor of Science Education program. She is active working for projects in Science Fairs and teachers’ training. She is also supported by Luz María Moya, former member of the Council.…
Rodrigo Covaleda recommends the incorporation of María Mercedes Ayala as a second Council Member for Colombia. She is supported by Marco A. Moreira and Ana Maria Pessoa. María Mercedes Ayala is the coordinator of the Masters program for Physics Education. She is an editor for the magazine "Física y Cultura" (Physics and Culture) and works in the Pedagogic University of Colombia, Bogotá.3) It is proposed the removal of the members of the Council that have not communicated with the Executive Committee or participated in the last few conferences. In this regard, the cases of Victor Latorre (Perú) and Irene Aguilar (Guatemala) will be considered.
4) Marco A. Moreira brought up the possibility of retrieving the materials from the V I Conference, Texas (1994), in order to publish the Proceedings, even if incomplete. It is agreed that Teodoro Halpern and Marco A. Moreira will try to achieve this task. Alberto Maiztegui indicated that this work has to be careful enough not to let any works presented in said Conference, out. With this proviso, the representatives of each country will support the committee that will carry out the project.
5) The possibility of organizing the VIII Conferece in Puerto Rico was discussed. José López notified the Council, through its President, that he was retiring his proposal because of the lack of the necessary conditions needed to mount such a conference. Nevertheless, the Council moved that the US representatives should discuss again the issue with José López.
6) Marco Antonio Moreira suggested the modification of the webpage due to the present difficulty to access it and the lack of timely updates.
7) Teodoro Halpern suggested to study the possibility of awarding a scholarship to one or two students which have participated in the organization of the Conference, which could be funding to assist to the next Conference.
A second meeting was arranged for Tuesday, July 4, 2000, in the same place, at the same time.
Translated by Teddy Halpern from the original Minutes supplied by Maite Andrés in Spanish