Teaching special relativity with a computer

Abstract

RelLab, a computer-based Relativity Laboratory designed to lead high school or introductory college physics students to a qualitative understanding of Special Relativity is described. RelLab is an open-ended ‘‘construction kit’’ for building a wide variety of gedanken experiments. Students are posed problems by the teacher, usually in the form of paradoxes. They break into small groups to discuss the paradox, construct a gedanken experiment to try to understand and solve it, and then come together as a class to discuss their results. The effectiveness of the software and the pedagogical approach are evaluated by giving high school students a test problem drawn from the physics education literature. The students demonstrated a level of qualitative understanding of relativity superior to that of the graduate students used in a previous study.