Contributed Poster Sessions:

These are "standard" poster sessions like you'd see at AAPT and other conferences.

Parallel Sessions:

There are many opportunities to engage at the conference. Check out the formats, choose what suits you (and your work) better, and submit a proposal using this Google form. Deadlines for contributed abstracts can be found right after parallel session descriptions below.

• Juried Talks: The submission process for juried talks this year follows the format of PERC 2018: presenters will submit extended abstracts describing their work.  These abstracts will then be reviewed by reviewers selected by PERCOGs, PERLOC, and RiPE, with a final decision being made by the organizing committee.  More details about the juried talks process can be found at this link, along with the submission.
• Poster Symposium: In a poster symposium (formerly known as targeted poster session), the organizer chooses a theme and invites several presenters to prepare posters on their work as it is related to the theme. Generally a poster symposium will include 3-5 posters and will include time for attendees to visit each poster as well as a closing whole-group discussion.  We also encourage organizers to be creative with both the formats and content of these types of sessions, as they may have the potential to foster more interactive dialogue and engagement.
• Talk Symposium: In a talk symposium, the organizer chooses a theme and invites several speakers to present talks on this theme. Generally this will include 3-5 talks with or without a discussant who can lead a group discussion following the talks.  As with the poster session, organizers are encouraged to think about ways to expand beyond the “traditional” format and envision new ways, in line with the conference format, to engage participants and attendees.
• Workshop: Workshops generally involve one or more leaders and a group of participants working on a shared task, often for the purpose of learning more about a research methodology or program.

Other community-generated formats for breakout sessions can be considered; please contact the conference organizers with your ideas (see conference landing page). We would like to exhort all organizers, even those whose content does not explicitly address informal STEM education, to consider ways of embodying and taking advantage of this year’s PERC theme. Sessions that foster deeper community engagement, prompt novel ways of thinking about physics education research, promote a more inclusive physics education research community, etc., are strongly encouraged.

For examples of each type of session from the most recent PERC, you may wish to consult the abstracts:

• Example of Talk Symposium
• Example of Poster Symposium
• Example of Workshop
• Example of Juried Talks
• Example of Discussion
• Example of Interactive Poster Symposium
• Example of Modified poster symposium/workshop

Important Dates

January 14, 2019: Parallel session proposal abstract submission opened

January 14, 2019: Juried talk abstract submission opened

February 22, 2019: Parallel session proposal and juried talk abstract deadline

March 12, 2019: Contributed poster abstract submission opens

April 5, 2019: Parallel sessions and juried talks selected and notified

May 24, 2019: Contributed poster abstract deadline

May 31, 2019: PERC paper submission opens

June 19, 2019: Undergraduate poster abstract deadline

July 3, 2019: PERC paper submission deadline (Authors must submit an abstract by the earlier deadline to be eligible)

Answers to anticipated questions

1. Does my poster or breakout session have to be on the conference theme of informal physics education?
   No. We encourage submissions on the conference theme but any strong PER work is appropriate for the conference. In the event that there are many more submissions than slots, connection to the conference theme or PERLOC recurring strands (as listed on the submission form) may be a secondary selection criterion.
2. How many proposals can I submit?
   There is no limit on proposals. Please note however that the PERC proceedings have a limit of one paper per primary author.
3. Why are there multiple deadlines listed for contributed posters?
   First-timer posters will have the same deadline as other contributed posters but can indicate their first-time status and be scheduled into the special session unless otherwise requested. There is a later deadline for undergraduate students in order to allow students in REU or other summer research programs to have time to assemble abstracts on their summer work. Many of these posters will also be in the first-timer session.

Now that you know everything about 2019 PERC, check out the important dates below and, please, do not miss the deadlines.

Thank you for making this 2019 PERC happen!