Design, analysis and reformulation of a didactic sequence for teaching the special theory of relativity in high school

In this work, we design, implement and analyze a didactic sequence for the teaching of the basic topics of special relativity theory in high school. The sequence proposes a series of situations, specially designed to allow the emergence of the central aspects of special relativity. The conceptualiza...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Otero, Maria Rita, Arlego, Marcelo José Fabián, Prodanoff, F.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2015
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/58109
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/58109
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:HIGH SCHOOL TEACHING
PHYSICS DIDACTICS
SPECIAL RELATIVITY
THEORY OF CONCEPTUAL FIELDS
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
Description
Summary:In this work, we design, implement and analyze a didactic sequence for the teaching of the basic topics of special relativity theory in high school. The sequence proposes a series of situations, specially designed to allow the emergence of the central aspects of special relativity. The conceptualization process is investigated from the point of view of the theory of conceptual fields of Vergnaud. By means of a careful analysis of classroom student productions we detect the key theorems-in-action they use, evidencing that most of conceptual errors are of pre-relativistic nature. This leads us to a reformulation of the sequence, which promotes the conceptualization of Galilean relativity and the principles of the special relativity. This previous step aims at bringing to students a firm basis to address the more complex aspects of the subject.