OAPT C O N F E R E N C E
31 May - 2 June 2007		 Ontario Science Centre

 

Roberta Tevlin

Two-Observer Spacetime Diagrams: 'Hands-on' Relativity!

Relativity vies with quantum mechanics as being the most difficult part of the grade 12 physics curriculum to teach. It tends to be very teacher-centred and there are very few opportunities for experiments, simulations or student centred activities. Two-observer spacetime diagrams are powerful tools that allow students to visualize what is happening and to explore the consequences of relativity on their own. In this workshop, teachers will learn how these diagrams are set up using the equation for time dilation. Teachers will then use prepared diagrams - a funny new kind of graph paper - to explore space contraction, the twin 'paradox', the pole in barn 'paradox', velocity addition and the relativistic Doppler shift. Teachers will leave the workshop with a complete kit of materials that will allow them to bring this experience to their students.

Bring With You

Biography

Roberta Tevlin teaches physics at Danforth C.T.I. in Toronto. She likes to make physics real and spent her first 20 years getting her students to build trebuchets, roller coasters, hovercrafts, hot air balloons etc.- all the fun Newtonian stuff. Since attending an Einstein Plus workshop at the Perimeter Institute in the summer of 2005, she has been bitten by the bug to find ways to make modern physics just as accessible. In her spare time she plays trombone in a New Orleans Jazz band.


Ontario Science Centre

Annual Conference

Submit a paper

Conferences in
Other Years

Sites of all Conferences