Related papers: Introducing General Relativity in high school: a g…
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…
This paper analyzes the effective field theory perspective on modern physics through the lens of the quantum theory of gravitational interaction. The historical part argues that the search for a theory of quantum gravity stimulated the…
Systems consisting of spheres rolling on elastic membranes have been used to introduce a core conceptual idea of General Relativity (GR): how curvature guides the movement of matter. However, such schemes cannot accurately represent…
Mass redistribution on Earth due to dynamic processes such as ice melting and sea level rise leads to a changing gravitational field, observable by geodetic techniques. Monitoring this change over time allows us to learn more about our…
Gravito-electromagnetism is somewhat ubiquitous in relativity. In fact, there are many situations where the effects of gravitation can be described by formally introducing "gravito-electric" and "gravito-magnetic" fields, starting from the…
Most STEM students experience the introductory physics sequence in large-enrollment (N $\gtrsim$ 100 students) classrooms, led by one lecturer and supported by a few teaching assistants. This work describes methods and principles we used to…
At the beginning of academic year 2007-08, staff in the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Glasgow started to implement a number of substantial changes to the first year physics class. The main aims were to improve the…
Einstein's General Relativity (GR) is possibly one of the greatest intellectual achievements ever conceived by the human mind. In fact, over the last century, GR has proven to be an extremely successful theory, with a well established…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration has raised the intriguing possibility that we are witnessing the first breakdown of General Relativity on cosmological scales. In this article I will briefly review current attempts to construct a…
This review is an up-to-date account of the use of numerical relativity to study dynamical, strong-gravity environments in a cosmological context. First, we provide a gentle introduction into the use of numerical relativity in solving…
We developed a two-day physics class that uses a nearby forest as a teaching location. Using low-cost material, students design and carry out physics projects outside of the usual controlled environment that is a classroom. In this way they…
An important challenge in robotics is understanding the interactions between robots and deformable terrains that consist of granular material. Granular flows and their interactions with rigid bodies still pose several open questions. A…
Sliding friction is usually introduced in high school, but rarely through activities in laboratory. A qualitative introduction to friction is presented by proposing exploration of different kind of materials in order to suggest which…
We suggest a lecture on Newtonian gravity, discussing how the use of the scientific method allows to rule out some of the models for the shape of Earth leaving a spherical Earth as the only possibility, in agreement with empirical…
In the spirit of Sakharov's `metric elasticity' proposal, we draw a loose analogy between general relativity and the hydrodynamic state of a quantum gas. In the `top-down' approach, we examine the various conditions which underlie the…
As virtual reality (VR) technology becomes more pervasive, it continues to find multiple new uses beyond research laboratories. One of them is distance adult education -- the potential of VR to provide valuable education experiences is…
In recent decades it has been detected in Italy a decrease in enrollment in basic sciences, i.e. Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. The increase in specific orientation is strategically crucial to achieve the goal of maintaining and…
It is known that General Relativity ({\bf GR}) uses a Lorentzian Manifold $(M_4;g)$ as a geometrical model of the physical spacetime. The metric $g$ is required to satisfy Einstein's equations. Since the 1960s many authors have tried to…
The article presents some aspects on the use of computer in teaching general relativity for undergraduate students with some experience in computer manipulation. The article presents some simple algebraic programming (in REDUCE+EXCALC…
In this article, we reflect upon our positive experiences incorporating or working on extra credit projects in algebra-based introductory physics that asked students to connect physics with humanities, social sciences, and everyday life. We…