Because of its abstract nature, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is rarely present in school physics curricula. Although the educational community has started to investigate ways of bringing general relativity to classrooms, field-tested educational material is rare. Employing the model of educational reconstruction, we present a collaborative online learning environment that was introduced to final year students (18-19 years old) in six Norwegian upper secondary physics classrooms. Design-based research methods guided the development of the learning resources, which were based on a sociocultural view of learning and a historical-philosophical approach to teaching general relativity. To characterize students' learning from and interaction with the learning environment we analyzed focus group interviews and students' oral and written responses to assigned problems and discussion tasks. Our findings show how design choices on different levels can support or hinder understanding of general relativity, leading to the formulation of design principles that help to foster qualitative understanding and encourage collaborative learning. The results indicate that upper secondary students can obtain a qualitative understanding of general relativity when provided with appropriately designed learning resources and sufficient scaffolding of learning through interaction with teacher and peers.

No abstract

The first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015 has led to an increased public interest in topics of general relativity (GR) and astronomy. Physics teachers and educators respond to this interest by introducing modern ideas of gravity and spacetime to high school students. Doing so, they face the challenge of finding suitable models that visualise gravity as the geometry of curved spacetime. Most models of GR, such as the popular rubber sheet model, only address spatial curvature. Yet, according to Albert Einstein, gravitational phenomena stem from deformations both in space and time. This paper presents a new model that builds on a relativistic generalisation of Newton's first law. We use Einstein's free fall thought experiment and a classical heighttime diagram to explain how warped time gives rise to gravity. Our warpedtime model acts as a convenient supplement to the rubber sheet model. To support teachers in integrating the model into their classroom practice, we have implemented the model as an interactive simulation that is freely accessible. The model is the result of a threeyear period of developing and trialling digital learning resources in Norwegian high schools. Based on these trials, we suggest specific instructional strategies on how to use the warpedtime model successfully in science classrooms.

In Germany, Susan Isernhagen's Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) system has increasingly come into use over the last few years at the interface between medical and vocational rehabilitation. With implementation of these work-related tests of functional capacity it is possible to obtain valid statements concerning the further vocational prognosis. Along with evaluative testing by experts from different disciplines, the further steps towards integration occur on a well-founded basis. Therapies may thus be adjusted to the requirements of work, either at the former workplace or a new one, or possibly of a vocational (re-)training measure. Also, it is possible to directly deal with work-related issues in the report given at the end of rehabilitation, to initiate preliminary integrative steps in order to achieve a seamless, job retention-focussed transition back into work life. Work is simulated at different levels of loading capacity, the functional deficits of the rehabilitees are addressed in a specific, job-related manner, so as to enable an early return to work after rehabilitation.

This study contributes to our understanding of meaning making in CSCL environments by examining a specific aspect of collaborative problem solving in which students improvise, introduce, and make meaning with representations in disciplinary domains. These situations include the embodied and imaginative processes of discovering new representational possibilities and artifact meanings. Much of the research on student-generated representations examines situations in which students are asked by a teacher or researcher explicitly to produce representations. However, we need more knowledge about how students within CSCL settings introduce representations from outside of the designed environment or intended task in order to solve a problem. To unpack the processes of collaborative improvisation and meaning making, we take a sociocultural stance towards imagining. This stance involves considering the socially and materially situated ways that participants express new possibilities and alternative situations that extend beyond the present reality. Focusing on a specific task based on maps as disciplinary representations, we analyze video data of upper secondary physics students working in small groups in a co-located CSCL environment. To characterize shifts across boundaries of several modalities including the verbal and gestural, digital and physical, and two-dimensional and three-dimensional, we identify emergent representations as imaginative productions. The findings extend current research on collaborative meaning making by bringing attention to the processes through which improvised representations emerge. This knowledge is key to facilitating the discovery of representational possibilities in CSCL environments.

This study reports on a pilot program conducted by members of the international Einsteinian Physics Education Research (EPER) Collaboration that aims to pool and combine innovative learning approaches in Einsteinian Physics. The collaboration also aims to disseminate learning resources and research results across a range of countries. In this study, we describe an integrated pilot programme that combines physical models and digital resources to explore secondary school students’ (Grade 10, 15 years old) conceptual understanding in the learning domain of Einsteinian physics. After the teaching units “gravity and warped time”, “gravity is geometry”, and “quantum weirdness”, we found that students had gained knowledge of key concepts in the learning domain of Einsteinian Physics. The units rely on physical models or digital learning resources. Both approaches proved successful in introducing Einsteinian concepts. By reporting on this integrated programme, we wish to share our model of an international physics education collaboration. Raising awareness for the need and possibility of introducing Einsteinian physics to school curricula, we hope to offer valuable impetus to the field of physics education that will inspire researchers and teachers alike.

In recent years, general relativity (GR) and gravitational-wave astronomy have emerged both as active fields of research and as popular topics in physics classrooms. Teachers can choose from an increasing number of modern instructional models to introduce students to relativistic ideas. However, the true potential of an instructional model can only be unleashed if teachers know about its scope and limitations and how the model relates to key concepts of the theory. GR is a conceptually rich theory and many relativistic concepts entail subtleties that often elude non-experts. Building on the recent introduction of a digital warped-time model (Kersting 2019 Phys. Educ. 54 035008), this article identifies three potentially confusing concepts in GR. We present three pedagogical pathways to address these concepts and supplement our considerations with quantitative treatments accessible at the upper secondary school level. By interlacing pedagogical and content-specific perspectives, we aim to support teachers who wish to deepen their knowledge of relativistic phenomena. At the same time, we offer specific instructional strategies to make successful use of the warped-time model. Our perspectives contribute to an on-going re-evaluation of practices in modern physics education that can offer new impetus to the physics teaching community beyond the learning domain of relativity.

No abstract