Related papers: Teaching relativity at the AstroCamp
General Relativity (GR) represents the most recent theory of gravity, on which all modern astrophysics is based, including some of the most astonishing results of physics research. Nevertheless, its study is limited to university courses,…
Astrophysical space missions deliver invaluable information about our universe, stellar dynamics of our galaxy, and motion of celestial bodies in the solar system. Astrometric space missions SIM and Gaia will determine distances to stars…
Ultralight dark matter is a hypothetical class of particle with a number of interesting theoretical and experimental properties, many of which are best understood by direct analogy with or application of undergraduate physics. We present a…
The author thinks that the main ideas or Relativity Theory can be explained to children (around the age of 15 or 16) without complicated calculations, by using very simple arguments of affine geometry. The proposed approach is presented as…
There has been a growing realisation that school science curricula do not adequately reflect the revolutionary changes in our scientific understanding of the 20th century. This discrepancy between current school education and our modern…
We report mainly on the global flagship outreach activity in particle physics: the International Particle Physics Masterclasses. It is illustrated on the example of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Masterclasses are described and their…
Aims: we propose that the condition of relative motion between us and the objects that we observe in the Universe should generate relativistic aberration on the photons that such objects emit, varying the observed flux similarly to the…
This paper re-centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus on context. In order to do so, a theoretically-motivated understanding of context is developed. Given a well-defined notion of context, data from a novel…
Observing celestial objects and advancing our scientific knowledge about them involves tedious planning, scheduling, data collection and data post-processing. Many of these operational aspects of astronomy are guided and executed by expert…
An elementary account of special relativity for school-children.
In order to guide teaching practices in Initial and Primary Education (IPE) level, it seems fundamental to start with an epistemological and didactic analysis of the programmatic content of the Knowledge of Nature area in the curriculum…
Cultural Astronomy sits at the intersection of our study of the universe and the human experience, exploring how we observe the stars, interpret their motions, and incorporate them into our perspectives of the nature of reality. "Astronomy…
Everything we know about the environment around us is thanks to light, a kind of electromagnetic radiation. Astronomy takes advantage of it and all the electromagnetic spectrum with the help of many devices to record them and determine from…
Despite the negative stereotypes still overshadowing community colleges, scores of freshmen nationwide are deliberately beginning their college careers at these institutions, and the numbers are increasing more than twice as fast as those…
This article reports on an investigation of student understanding of the concept of time in special relativity. A series of research tasks are discussed that illustrate, step-by-step, how student reasoning of fundamental concepts of…
Talks given at the V Taller de Particulas y Campos (V-TPyC) and V Taller Latinoam. de Fenomenologia de las Interac. Fundam. (V-TLFIF), Puebla, Mexico, 10/30 - 11/3 1995. These lectures are devoted to elementary particle physicists and…
We discuss the development, implementation, and assessment of a course for science undergraduates designed to help them develop an awareness and a deeper appreciation of the intellectual demands of physics teaching. The course focused on…
Writing is a critical skill for modern science, enabling collaboration, scientific discourse, public outreach, and more. Accordingly, it is important to consider how physicists and astronomers are trained to write. This study aims to…
Parallax is the most important astronomical method for determining the distances from the Earth to nearby stars. We present two hands-on activities that explore the concepts and practice of parallax measurement. The first activity is a…
We present two programs that address needs to better prepare graduate students for their roles as professional physicists, particularly in the areas of teaching and education research. The two programs, Preparing Future Physicists (PFP) and…