This document summarizes an initiative to improve physics education in Serbia through the establishment of a specialized physics class for gifted students. Key points: 1) An experimental physics class was started 8 years ago in Nis, Serbia to offer gifted students high-quality physics education and opportunities to continue their studies. 2) Evaluation found students in the physics class had better results on physics tests than students in standard classes or specialized math classes. 3) The physics class attracted more students over time due to its attractive curriculum, additional resources, and student success.

1. Excellence in physics education by the international cooperation 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 Goran S. DJORDJEVIC Asia Europe Physics Summit – ASEPS 2011 26-29 October 2011, Wroclaw, Poland

12. TABLE 1. Results of the third generation . Questions 1 (%) Problems 1 (%) Total 1 (%) Questions 2(%) Problems 2 (%) Total 2(%) “ Physicists”-Nis (9) 52,67 22,40, 42,58 71,11 27,78 56,67 „ Mathematicians“-Nis (7) 35,00 000,0 23,33 64,86 4,29 44,67 Standard class-Nis (20) 42,60 000,0 28,40 61,40 0,00 40,93 “ Mathematicians”-BG (17) 67,06 00,71 44,94 68,29 29,18 55,25 “ Mathematicians”-NS (7) 69,14 8,29 48,86 81,86 31,43 65,05

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

14. (3 rd gen.)

16. TABLE 2. Results of the second generation Questions 1 (%) Problems 1 (%) Total 1 (%) Questions 2 (%) Problems 2 (%) Total 2 (%) “ Physicists”-Nis (6) 66,3 12,7 56,9 56,0 13,3 50,7 „ Mathematicians“-Nis (6) 68,2 9,5 55,0 73,7 14,5 63,6 Standard class-Nis (7) 33,6 0,0 22,4 19,8 0,6 13,8 “ Mathematicians”-BG (19) 57,2 13,1 51,3 75,5 12,5 62,7 “ Mathematicians”-NS (15) 44,7 4,6 34,4 53,9 3,1 39,1

17. (2nd gen.)

18. TABLE 3. Results of the first generation Questions 1 (%) Problems 1 (%) Total 1 (%) Questions 2 (%) Problems 2 (%) Total 2 (%) “ Physicists”-Nis ( 11 ) 31,9 4,6 24,5 39,9 „ Mathematicians“-Nis (16 ) 34,7 4,7 27,8 35,8 Standard class-Nis (21) 32,6 10,4

19. (1st gen.)

24. Ankara Bucharest Craiova Istanbul Kragujevac, Nis Sofia Thessaloniki Timisoara Zagreb Network nodes Sarajevo Skopje Belgrade 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) 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

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

38. Some of Network`s publications

47. Thank you!