Introducing relativity: less may be more

Ogborn, Jon

doi:10.1088/0031-9120/40/3/001

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Based on the study data, in conclusion, it can be said that the participants found the subject of Special Relativity interesting. According to Ogborn (2005), although students find Special Relativity very interesting when they first hear about the concept of time dilation and the mysterious formula of E=mc 2 , the mathematical difficulties that they experience when they meet the Lorentz transformations cause them to lose interest. In the present study, the mathematical difficulties stand out as one of the problems that the participants faced when learning about relativity.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies point out the positive contributions of using the history of science to teach relativity (Arriassecq & Greca, 2012;Villani & Arruda, 1998). Ogborn (2005) suggests a sequence consisting of four steps for teachers to teach relativity. Among studies on special relativity, studies focusing on teaching by visualisation occupy an important place (Carr & Bossomaier, 2011;Henriksen et al,2014;Kortemeyer et al, 2013;Kraus, 2008;McGrath et al, 2010;Savage et al, 2007;Smith, 2011;Wegener et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Difficulties in Understanding Special Relativity Topics

Yavaş

Şahin

2016

EJPE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study is to identify the reasons why pre-service physics teachers have difficulties related to special relativity topics. In this study conducted with 25 pre-service physics teachers, the case study method, which is a qualitative research method, was used. Interviews were held with the participants about their reasons for difficulties in understanding special relativity topics. We used content analysis with the interview data and created eight categories. By doing so, we tried to identify the causes of difficulties experienced by the participants. As a result, it can be said that students are biased against relativity subjects and consider them to be difficult. Although the students found the subject interesting, problems such as mathematical difficulties, problems related to determining the reference system and transition from classical physics to relativistic physics made the learning process difficult for them. Additionally, we identified positive and negative opinions about the teaching method.

show abstract

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Difficulties in Understanding Special Relativity Topics

Yavaş

Şahin

2016

EJPE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The ways of approaching the theory of relativity in physics teaching have been discussed by many groups of physicists and educators [8,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In particular, the so-called mass-energy equivalence, represented by the famous formula E = mc 2 , opens a loophole for different modes of thought and, as a consequence, one finds divergent approaches in both textbooks and discourses by physicists.…”

Section: E = MC 2 and Implications For Teachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The meanings of mass and E = mc2: an approach based on conceptual maps

Kneubil

2018

Rev. Bras. Ensino Fís.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this work, we discuss transformations in the meaning of the concept of mass, which are important to physics teaching, by means of three conceptual schemes, which emphasize visual patterns of knowledge organization. We begin by discussing how the meaning of a physical concept is constructed, through its relations with others. In physical theories, these connections usually involve mathematical operations. We focus on the concept of mass and its changes in three different contexts, namely classical mechanics, electromagnetism and relativity. Modifications are displayed as shifts in its relative position in conceptual schemes. These schemes enforce visual knowledge and may be used as didactical tools for teaching the subject, since they stress both the signification of mass in classical mechanics and its re-signification in relativity. This paves the way for a discussion of different approaches adopted for teaching the mass-energy relation in relativity, expressed by the famous formula E = mc 2 . As the terms rest mass, relativistic mass and invariant mass, which have different ontological and epistemological contents, are part of this discussion, we consider the main approaches to mass present in both relativity textbooks and discourses by some influential physicists.

show abstract

“…According to this study, relativity is the second most interesting one among the other physics topics. According to Ogborn (2005), the students are quite enthusiastic when they start to learn relativity but they lose this enthusiasm of theirs when they face Lorentz's transformation and some complicated algebraic operations. According to the results of the study conducted by Angell (2004), teachers complain about the students' weak mathematical skills and the students do not regard mathematics as an important problem in physics lessons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Reasons of Difficulty Understanding of Students in Special Relativity Topics

Şahin

Yavaş

2017

Cukurova University Faculty of Education Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Special relativity has been started to be taught in high schools in addition to universities. Moreover, it attracts the attention of scientifically literate individuals. The purpose of this study is to determine high school and university students' levels of difficulty understanding of special relativity. Furthermore, if it made a difference according to gender or educational level was also searched. In our previous study, which formed a basis for this research, the students' opinions about difficulty understanding were determined by the interviews. The opinions obtained from the previous research were compiled and a Likert test with 5 option was prepared. This scale was applied to 691 student (446 science teacher candidates and 245 high school students). When the data obtained from the scale with 23 items applied was analyzed, it consisted of three factors. These factors are the perception of the topic, mathematical difficulties and the teaching methods difficulties. According to the general results, the students think that this topic is easy as much as they think it is difficult. High school students remarked that they had more difficulties than the university students and women remarked that they had more difficulties than men from some points of view.

show abstract

Introducing relativity: less may be more

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Difficulties in Understanding Special Relativity Topics

Pre-Service Physics Teachers’ Difficulties in Understanding Special Relativity Topics

The meanings of mass and E = mc2: an approach based on conceptual maps

Investigating the Reasons of Difficulty Understanding of Students in Special Relativity Topics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About