Excellence in physics education by the international cooperation

1. Excellence in physics education by the international cooperation Goran S. DJORDJEVIC Department of Physics and SEENET-MTP Office University of Niš, Serbia Partially based on the common paper: G. S. Dj, D. Pavlovic-Babic and J. Stankovic arXiv:1110.5072, to appear in RRP 2 Asia Europe Physics Summit – ASEPS 2011 26-29 October 2011, Wroclaw, Poland

2. Eight years ago, one high school class for students with special abilities in physics was founded in Nis, Serbia. http://www.pmf.ni.ac.yu/f_odeljenje In the countries of former Yugoslavia, classes for students with special abilities have had a pretty long and successful tradition As a consequence of political and economical instability many of these classes in Serbia disappeared. Interest of pupils and students in sciences, in particular in physics, has decreased. What is our experience and results of evaluation? P R E F A C E

3. Despite some improvement that has been made through last few years, today three fundamental problems still characterize the teaching, science as well, at the schools in Serbia: • obsolete equipment, • national strategy and concepts of education is in preparation, but still not adopted and operative • insufficient motivation of teachers.

4. Some consequences and problems: • Skills of pupils in using methods and tools developed in physics and other sciences seem to decrease at the same time with a new, revolution in science and technology in developed countries. • A very small, in general decreasing, number of students in the natural sciences and engineering sciences at the university

5. Let us remindP R O J E C T : • “GRAMMAR SCHOOL CLASS FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL ABILITIES IN PHYSICS” • The main goals of the project: • to offer a high-quality education • to give gifted pupils a perspective for continuing education in a competitive atmosphere • to convey initiative and enthusiasm

6. These goals are to be reached by the following measures: • focus on the natural science, in particular on physics • provision of basic laboratory equipment and PCs (virtual experiments and Internet access) • close collaboration with the University • close collaboration with similar projects in EU and Eastern Europe • more intensive foreign languages teaching (especially English),

7. General Syllabus • 1st grade - 4th grade • Serbian, 4, 3, 3, 4 • English, 2, 3, 3, 2 • Chemistry, 3, 3, 2, 2 • Biology, 2, 2, 3, 2 • Physical Education, 2, 2, 2, 2 • Mathematics, 5, 5, 5, 5 • Computer Science, 3, 3, 2 (+30), 2(+30) • Practice, +60, +60, +60, +60 • Physics courses : 5 (+60), 5 (+60), 6 (+30), 5 (+30) (The +sign before the numbers marks the number of practical classes)

8. 1st grade -2th grade • History, 2, 2 • Geography, 2, 2 • 3th grade • Sociology with constitution and civil rights, 2 • Psychology, 2 • 4th grade • Philosophy, 2 • Latin, 2 • Astronomy, 2

9. The Physics Syllabus • 1st grade • Elements of mechanics and thermodynamics, 3/w • Computational exercises I, 2/w • Laboratory exercises I, 60/y • 2th grade • Electromagnetism and Optics, 3/w • Computational exercises II, 2/w • Laboratory exercises II, 60/y

10. The Physics Syllabus • 3th grade • Mechanics with the Theory of relativity, 2/w • Atomic and Molecular physics, 2/w • Physical Electronics , 2/w • 4th grade • Modeling in physics, 2/w +30/y • The physics of the micro world, 3/w

11. E V A L U A T I O N • The authors of the curricula and project have been faced with a lot of problems in implementation of the project in its basic form during last three years . • However, one of the most important aims has been permanent evaluation of the pupils in the ``new class`` and comparison of their results with pupils educated in the standard and ``mathematical`` classes. • Results of two tests in physics made in October 2005 and May 2006 are given in the Table. There have been five groups of pupils

12. TABLE 1. Results of the third generation .

13. FIGURE 1. Pupil’s success in solving test questions and problems. Ph-Nis, M-Nis, S-Nis, M-BG, M-NS. (3rd gen.)

14. (3rd gen.)

15. All pupils worked out the same test with 20 questions (in total 100 points) and 2 problems (in total 50 points). At this stage we measured abilities of pupils only in physics and mainly in the first class. • Beside results of the third generation - pupils born in 1990, we can briefly see results of the two previous generations.

16. TABLE 2. Results of the second generation

17. (2nd gen.)

18. TABLE 3. Results of the first generation

19. (1st gen.)

20. EXTERNAL EVALUATION • Metodhology of Evaluation • Student achievement on a science knowledge test (taken by 3 groups of students: basic group – students of all grades involved in the Programe, and two control groups – students of Grammar school and students involved in special math classes); • Perceptions of students, teachers and school management about the planned solutions, applied practices and the quality of teaching, as well as the possibilities and limitations of the Programe in the implementation of the curricula; and • Content analysis of existing documentation.

21. Achievement on Knowledge Test Mean scores on science knowledge test by grades: Special physics class students Mean scores on science knowledge test: all groups of students

22. (PRE) CONCLUSION and PUPILS` RESULTS • The differences in syllabus in physics are so big in the second and third year that comparison of results is sensible just after the end of the grammar school, i.e. after 4th year. • Let us denote that pupils from the standard class are not able to solve problems (their records in solving problems tend to zero in all three generations). • The “physicists” show slightly better improvement in physics, and continually good records in solving problems. • Very good results at the national competition, in particular in physics and mathematics. • The new class and program “for physicists” has attracted better pupils and that number of pupils is increasing 7, 11 and 15 in 2nd, 3rd and 4th (the newest) generation. • It can be explained by attractive curricula, a lot of guest lecturers, additional laboratory work, excursions, some support in books and awards

23. Needs and challenges for networkingin Balkan region Recognizing the importance of bridging the gap between Southeastern and Western European scientific community the participants of the UNESCO-ROSTE - sponsored BALKAN WORKSHOP BW2003 "Mathematical, Theoretical and Phenomenological Challenges Beyond the Standard Model: Perspectives of Balkans Collaboration" (Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia, August 29 - September 3, 2003) came to a common agreement on the Initiative for the SEENET-MTP NETWORK Structure Development 2004 - 2010 17 institutions from 8 countries in the region joined the Network 12 partner institutions all over the world about 250 individual members

24. Network nodes Zagreb Timisoara Cankaya University (Ankara, Turkey) Mathematical Institute, SANU(Belgrade, Serbia) Astronomical Observatory(Belgrade, Serbia) Institute of Physics, Center for Theoretical Physics(Belgrade, Serbia) Faculty of Physics(Belgrade, Serbia) National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (Bucharest, Romania) Faculty of Physics(Craiova, Romania) Department of Physics, Bogazici University(Istanbul, Turkey) Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics(Kragujevac, Serbia) Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics (Nis, Serbia) Department of Physics, Faculty of Science(Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) Faculty of Science(Skopje, Macedonia) The Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy(Sofia, Bulgaria) Section of Nuclear and Particle Physics, Aristotle University (Thessaloniki, Greece) Department of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences School of Engineering, Aristotle University (Thessaloniki, Greece) Faculty of Physics, West University of Timisoara(Timisoara, Romania) Department of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Sciences (Zagreb, Croatia) Belgrade Bucharest Craiova Kragujevac, Sarajevo Nis Sofia Skopje Istanbul Thessaloniki Ankara To Be Confirmed Institute for Applied Physics(Chisinau, Moldova) Department of Physics, University of Vlora(Vlora, Albania)

25. President and Executive Director of SEENET-MTP Radu-Dan CONSTANTINESCU Faculty of Physics, University of Craiova Craiova, Romania Goran DJORDJEVIC Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, Nis, Serbia

26. Scientific-Advisory Committee (SAC) • Consists of outstanding and leading international researchers both from the SEE region and elsewhere in the world • The main responsibilities: • consideration of research project proposals submitted by the nodes • to recommend promising research topics of high international interest • support of the activities and participation in the events • supporting bilateral and multilateral co-operation between the SAC members’ home institutions and the SEENET-MTP

27. Members of SAC Luis ALVAREZ-GAUME CERN Geneva, Switzerland • Guido ALTARELLI • Universit`adi Roma Tre, Italy and CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

28. Members of SAC Ignatios ANTONIADIS CERN Geneva, Switzerland Metin ARIK Department of Physics, Bogazici University Istanbul, Turkey

29. Members of SAC • Jonathan Bagger • Baltimor • WA, USA Loriano Bonora SISSA Trieste, Italy Lars Brink Department of Fundamental Physics, Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg, Sweden

30. Members of SAC EmilianDudas Centre de Physique Theorique of EcolePolytechnique Paris, France GeorgiDvali New York University NY, USA NemanjaKaloper Department of Physics, University of California Davis, USA

31. Members of SAC George Lazarides University of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki, Greece Jan Louis II. InstitutfürTheoretischePhysikderUniversität Hamburg Hamburg, Germany Dieter Luest Theory Group, Max-Planck-InstitutfuerPhysik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut) Muenchen, Germany

32. Members of SAC • Alexei Morozov • Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics • Moscow, Russia Sunil Mukhi Department of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research India Kumar Narain ICTP Trieste, Italy

33. Members of SAC GoranSenjanovic ICTP Trieste, Italy Contact person of SAC • Ivan T. Todorov • INRN • Sofia, Bulgaria George Zoupanos Department of Physics, National Technical University, Athens, Greece

34. They were with us ZvonkoMaric (1930-2007) Faculty of Physics, University of Belgrade Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences Belgrade, Serbia Wolfgang Kummer(1935 – 2007) Institute for Theoretical Physics, Vienna University of Technology Wien, Austria

35. They were with us Julius Wess (1934 – 2007) Max-Plank-InstitutfuerPhysik Muenchen, Germany Founders of the WIGV initiative One of founders of the SEENET-MTP Coordinator of SAC (2003 - 2007) Director of Max-Plank-InstitutfuerPhysik

36. Main Results and Activities Mobilty program: About 140 exchanges in the region (2005-2010), in average 20 per year Duration of visits: 5-7 days Network meetings: 16 meetings in 8 years, about 795 participants Publications-Monographs, Network Conference Proceedings: about 10 issues Research: Numerous joint papers with acknowledgements to UNESCO and ICTP for support, partially or even fully based on collaboration during exchanges SEENET-MTP web portal became one of the most popular source of information concerning MTP in our region: Promotion of science in particular physics (main activities in Serbia): 30 lectures and 3 books Meetings and Competitions of High School students and undergraduate students: ``Science and Society`` in Craiova (Romania) in 2008 , 2009 nd 2011 Special class for high school students with special interests in sciences, Nis, Serbia, www.pmf.ni.ac.rs/f_odeljenje

37. Network Meetings 2003-2010 BW2003 - Mathematical, Theoretical and Phenomenological Challenges Beyond the Standard Model (Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia) BW2005 - II Southeastern European Workshop: Challenges Beyond the Standard Model (Vrnjacka Banja, Serbia) QM2005 - Quantum Models on Noncommutative and Deformed Spaces (Nis, Serbia) QFTHS2006 - 5th International School & Workshop – Quantum Field Theory & Hamiltonian Systems (Calimanesti, Romania) STMP2006 - Selected Topic in Modern Physics (Nis, Serbia) MMP2006 - International School on Modern Trends in Mathematical Physics (Sofia, Bulgaria) SQ2007 - New methods in string theory and quantization (Nis. Serbia) SQIQC07 - School Of Quantum Information And Quantum Computation (Kragujevac, Serbia) BW2007 - III Southeastern European Workshop: Challenges Beyond the Standard Model (Kladovo, Serbia) MMP2008- II International School on Modern Trends in Mathematical Physics (Varna, Bulgaria) NTST2008 – New Trends in Science and Technology (Ankara, Turkey) SSSCP2009 - Spring School on Strings, Cosmology and Particles (Belgrade-Nis, Serbia) QFTHS 2010 - Spring School and Workshop in Quantum Field Theory and Hamiltonian Systems, 10-15 May 2010, Craiova & Calimanesti, Romania

38. Some of Network`s publications

39. A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S • This project and work is partially supported by 8 UNESCO-ROSTE, in particular grant No. 8759145 and UNESCO-BRESCE grant No. 8758346 and No. 875.922.8 and several ICTP Projects (PRJ-09)

40. S O M E R E F E R E N C E S (1) 1. G. S. Djordjevic, Lj. Kostic-Stajkovic, Lj. D. Nesic and T. Misic, Spezialized vs. Standard High School Classes and their Results in Physics, CP899, Sixth International Conference of the Balkan Physical Union, edited by S.A. Cetin and I. Hikmet, American Institute of Physics (2007), 489-490. 2. G. S. Djordjevic and Lj. Nesic, Grammar School Class for Students with Special Abilities in Physics, Proceedings of the BPU5, V. Banja, Serbia, 2003, pp. 161-164.

41. S O M E R E F E R E N C E S (2) 3. G. S. Djordjevic, Lj. Nesic, and M. K. Radovic, Experimental Education in Physics for Talented Secondary School Students, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting on Physics Education, Belgrade, 1999, pp. 651-654 4. OECD, PISA 2006 Science Competencies for Tomorrow Word, Paris, 2007 5. D. S. Rychen and L. H. Salganik (eds): Key Competencies for a Successful Life and a Well-Functioning Society, Cambridge, 2003 6. A. Thomson: Critical Reasoning, London, 1996

47. Thank you!