| Dear Colleagues,
It is our pleasure and joy to be able to invite you to GIREP-EPEC 2007 Conferences to be held for the first time in Opatija, Croatia.
For many years, GIREP conferences have been organized with ICPE (International Commission for Physics Education) part of IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics). They are one of the main reference points for the international community concerned with the teaching of physics. They offer a rich environment for the discussion of physics education and research in physics education, bringing together school teachers, subject academics and didactical/pedagogical researchers.
In a highly successful GIREP Conference 2000 it was resolved that a series of Seminars should be launched, to take place in alternate years, in which the participants would be encouraged to submit papers clearly focused on narrowly defined topics with the aim of facilitating coordinated action. In these Seminars there is more time for discussion and less for presentations. The Seminars, however, are organized in such a way that all the participants have the chance to present their thoughts and research and make their work known.
This time, as an advantageous novelty, the GIREP Seminar is organized as a joined event with European Physics Education Conference. While GIREP traditionally, for many years, gathers experts and practitioners of educational physics, the EPEC is a young Conference organized as a European Physical Society initiative, which attracts the top physicists in Europe. Joining of the Conferences has a mission of bringing together physics teachers from schools and universities across the European continent and to encourage dialogue and the exchange of best practice in physics education. The joining of the two meetings, under the same topic title of Frontiers in physics education, brings some particularly important and valuable characteristics. On one side, all the education physics practitioners do have to constantly refresh the contents and teaching methods to keep up with the large and ever growing scientific knowledge base in the field of physics. On the other hand, recent trends in science communication demand the fundamental scientific research results to be qualitatively elaborated and rapidly communicated to the public audience. In this respect, the Physics education research identifies the problems of conceptual understanding and brings forward strategies of active learning and effective knowledge construction.
GIREP-EPEC 2007 is organized by GIREP, European Physical Society and local organizers: Physics Department of Faculty of Arts and Sciences University of Rijeka and Golden Section Society an NGO for development of science and mathematics education. Organization of the events is kindly supported by the Ministry of education and sports and University Foundation. We are grateful to the local authorities – the city of Opatija, city of Rijeka, as well as Primorsko-goranska County and Opatija Tourist board for supporting the initiatives to host the events properly. We are proud to invite you to GIREP/EPEC meetings to be held on a beautiful Opatija Riviera, the jewel in the crown of the Croatian tourism with the Croatian longest tradition in providing the tourist services. We are glad to host these events just in the 2007 year, the one that celebrates the 150th birth anniversary of Andrija Mohorovicic, one of the most famous Croatian physicists generally known as seismologist who discovered the Moho discontinuity in the Earth's crust. We hope the GIREP/EPEC to set the stage for the intensive exchange of experiences and ideas and to promote collaboration, joined projects and friendly atmosphere. Share the enthusiasm for Frontiers in Physics Education with us and join us in Opatija in August 2007. Come to learn, come to teach, come to enjoy. Welcome to Opatija!
On behalf of LOC GIREP-EPEC 2007
Rajka Jurdana-Šepić, Chair |
