Seeing Reality Through Einstein's Eyes: A Teaching Proposal for Special Relativity

Leonardi, Alessio Mattia; Mobilio, Settimio; Fazio, Claudio

doi:10.21125/edulearn.2021.0675

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…In the cat's reference system event A happens in position (read on the instrument) x ′ A = −1.125 ls at time t ′ A = 4.875 s, whose real values are given by Lorentz transformations (3) and result to be x ′ A ≃ −1.15 ls at time t ′ A ≃ 4.86 s. This thanks to the hyperbolas-shaped tracks: each dice moves into the Lorentz transformed one according to the particular speed of the boost [30].…”

Section: Spacetime Globementioning

confidence: 98%

A teaching proposal for the didactics of Special Relativity: the spacetime globe

Leonardi¹,

Mobilio²,

Fazio³

2022

Phys. Educ.

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Special Relativity introduces students to Modern Physics, whose importance in the high school is increasing. Nevertheless its teaching and learning is a critical issue. Different solutions have been developed to overcome the encountered difficulties. In this paper we describe the spacetime globe, a mechanical instrument that allows to experience Special Relativity hands-on. We show how it is possible to treat all the main phenomena foreseen by Special Relativity with simple laboratory experiences, using the idea of Minkowski’s spacetime diagrams. The aim is to develop the use of geometrical approach in learning Special Relativity in high schools.

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Section: Spacetime Globementioning

confidence: 98%

A teaching proposal for the didactics of Special Relativity: the spacetime globe

Leonardi¹,

Mobilio²,

Fazio³

2022

Phys. Educ.

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“…2020-2021 we planned a project, following the feedback of some high-school teachers interested in our tool [20]. A detailed description of the experimentation has been already presented elsewhere (see for instance [11][12]) and here we are going to summarise its main structure.…”

Section: Experimentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When we consider Classical Mechanics [12], researches show that students' problems are related to the concept of reference frame [7; 9; 13-14] which is not held by students [7] but it is necessary for a correct and global understanding of Special Relativity [5; 7; 13]. Students have difficulties to determine what makes a reference frame [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Different solutions are being proposed to effectively teach Special Relativity in high schools: as we already reviewed and discussed [11][12], in literature a common consensus over the use of spacetime diagrams was found but this approach is still not widely diffused. Prado et al [10] clearly points out that "the literature shows that using spacetime diagrams is an efficient procedure to answer and explain questions, dilemmas and paradoxes of the theory".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We used these global results to carry out a doctoral study between 2019 and 2022 with the Department of Mathematics and Physics of Roma Tre University in Rome [11] with a project on the teaching of Special Relativity by the means of the spacetime globe [11][12]20] and in this contribution we are going to summarise some evidence we observed about students' misconception on both Classical Mechanic and Special Relativity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An analysis of students’ misconceptions on Special Relativity

Leonardi,

Mobilio,

Fazio

2024

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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Special Relativity is one of the key theories describing our reality but its accommodation among students at different level is still a critical issue. Even after instruction, students’ answers continue to be biased by Classical Mechanics. We present the analysis of high-school students’ answers to open questions concerning topics on Classical Mechanics and Special Relativity showing the persistence of pre-relativistic reasoning. This study is part of an experimentation on the teaching of Special Relativity with the use of a mechanical instrument that allows students to explore by hand the effects of a change of reference frame.

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