Einsteinian gravitational concepts throughout secondary school

TL;DR

This study explores the feasibility of teaching Einsteinian gravitational concepts to secondary school students, showing that students from Year 7 to Year 13 can grasp aspects of spacetime curvature, with deeper understanding developing in later years.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that Einsteinian gravity concepts can be introduced effectively across secondary school years, informing curriculum development.

Findings

All year groups could appreciate curvature effects.

Visual aids helped Year 7-8 understanding but not the source of gravity.

Deeper understanding of curvature as gravity's source appears in Year 12-13.

Abstract

Einstein's theory of relativity is largely thought of as one of the most important discoveries of the 20$^{th}$ century and continues to pass observational tests over 100 years later. Yet, it is Newtonian gravity, a 350 year old formalism proven to be less accurate than relativity, which is taught in schools. It has been shown that Einsteinian gravitational concepts can be well understood by students in both primary and secondary education. In this paper, a cross-section of students from Yr 7-13 enrolled in an English secondary school took part in an intervention designed to introduce the idea of gravity from spacetime curvature. The overall aim of this work is to assess the viability of including relativity in the secondary curriculum and to ascertain which year this material would be best placed in. We determine that all year groups where able to appreciate the effects of curvature to some extent. Visual demonstrations aided conceptual understanding at Yr 7-8 level, but this does not have a strong effect on their ideas around the source of the gravitational force. Participants in Yr 9-13 were able to understand concepts beyond those introduced in the demonstrations. However, a deeper understanding of curvature as the source of the gravitational force is not seen until years 12 & 13. We find that those in Yr 13 have the best overall understanding of the concepts introduced during our intervention.