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Learning and teaching Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity: state of the art

Physics Education 2021-07-20 v1

Abstract

This work analyzes the difficulties in learning and teaching Einstein's theory of special relativity. An extensive bibliographic review has been performed, considering articles published in the most relevant journals on science education, which were selected taking into account the following impact factors: JCR, SJR, IN-RECS and ICDS. The typical thinking of students and teachers is discussed pointing out that, occasionally, it does not befit the proper scientific perspective. Different educational proposals are examined and particular didactic implications are inferred. The conclusions of this inquiry constitute the basis of a proposal that relies on a Minkowskian geometrical formulation for teaching special relativity in upper secondary education.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.15149,
  title  = {Learning and teaching Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity: state of the art},
  author = {Xabier Prado and José Manuel Domínguez and Iván Area and José Edelstein and Jorge Mira and Ángel Paredes},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.15149},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

50 pages, 4 figures