Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review

This review presents an overview and analysis of the body of research on special relativity theory (SRT) education at the secondary and lower undergraduate level. There is currently a growing international interest in implementing SRT in pre-university education as an introduction to modern physics....

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Autores principales:	Paul Alstein, Kim Krijtenburg-Lewerissa, Wouter R. van Joolingen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2021
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bc3cf32b53fb4932be63957ef13dd235
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bc3cf32b53fb4932be63957ef13dd2352021-12-02T18:35:11ZTeaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.0231012469-9896https://doaj.org/article/bc3cf32b53fb4932be63957ef13dd2352021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.023101http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.023101https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896This review presents an overview and analysis of the body of research on special relativity theory (SRT) education at the secondary and lower undergraduate level. There is currently a growing international interest in implementing SRT in pre-university education as an introduction to modern physics. For this reason, insights into learning opportunities and challenges in SRT education are needed. The field of research in SRT education is still at an early stage, especially at the level of secondary education, and there is a shortage of empirical evaluation of learning outcomes. In order to guide future research directions, there is a need for an overview and synthesis of the results reported so far. We have selected 40 articles and categorized them according to reported learning difficulties, teaching approaches, and research tools. Analysis shows that students at all educational levels experience learning difficulties with the use of frames of reference, the postulates of SRT, and relativistic effects. In the reported teaching sequences, instructional materials, and learning activities, these difficulties are approached from different angles. Some teaching approaches focus on thought experiments to express conceptual features of SRT, while others use virtual environments to provide realistic visualization of relativistic effects. From the reported teaching approaches, three learning objectives can be identified: to foster conceptual understanding, to foster understanding of the history and philosophy of science, and to gain motivation and confidence toward SRT and physics in general. In order to quantitatively compare learning outcomes of different teaching strategies, a more thorough evaluation of assessment tools is required.Paul AlsteinKim Krijtenburg-LewerissaWouter R. van JoolingenAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 17, Iss 2, p 023101 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Paul Alstein Kim Krijtenburg-Lewerissa Wouter R. van Joolingen Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
description	This review presents an overview and analysis of the body of research on special relativity theory (SRT) education at the secondary and lower undergraduate level. There is currently a growing international interest in implementing SRT in pre-university education as an introduction to modern physics. For this reason, insights into learning opportunities and challenges in SRT education are needed. The field of research in SRT education is still at an early stage, especially at the level of secondary education, and there is a shortage of empirical evaluation of learning outcomes. In order to guide future research directions, there is a need for an overview and synthesis of the results reported so far. We have selected 40 articles and categorized them according to reported learning difficulties, teaching approaches, and research tools. Analysis shows that students at all educational levels experience learning difficulties with the use of frames of reference, the postulates of SRT, and relativistic effects. In the reported teaching sequences, instructional materials, and learning activities, these difficulties are approached from different angles. Some teaching approaches focus on thought experiments to express conceptual features of SRT, while others use virtual environments to provide realistic visualization of relativistic effects. From the reported teaching approaches, three learning objectives can be identified: to foster conceptual understanding, to foster understanding of the history and philosophy of science, and to gain motivation and confidence toward SRT and physics in general. In order to quantitatively compare learning outcomes of different teaching strategies, a more thorough evaluation of assessment tools is required.
format	article
author	Paul Alstein Kim Krijtenburg-Lewerissa Wouter R. van Joolingen
author_facet	Paul Alstein Kim Krijtenburg-Lewerissa Wouter R. van Joolingen
author_sort	Paul Alstein
title	Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
title_short	Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
title_full	Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
title_fullStr	Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
title_full_unstemmed	Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review
title_sort	teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: a literature review
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/bc3cf32b53fb4932be63957ef13dd235
work_keys_str_mv	AT paulalstein teachingandlearningspecialrelativitytheoryinsecondaryandlowerundergraduateeducationaliteraturereview AT kimkrijtenburglewerissa teachingandlearningspecialrelativitytheoryinsecondaryandlowerundergraduateeducationaliteraturereview AT wouterrvanjoolingen teachingandlearningspecialrelativitytheoryinsecondaryandlowerundergraduateeducationaliteraturereview
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Teaching and learning special relativity theory in secondary and lower undergraduate education: A literature review

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