International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
About the Peculiar Aspects of Relativity and Beyond: A Pedagogical
Perspective
Paolo Di Sia a *
a
Free University of Bolzano - Faculty of Education - Viale Ratisbona 16 - 39042 Bressanone,Italy
Abstract
In this paper a pedagogical, but rigorous introduction to the key concepts of relativity is presented. Starting by
the notions of space and time, of fundamental importance for the evolution for the global knowledge of children
already in the primary school, it arrives to indications about the teaching of relativity in the high school and
university. Interesting considerations related to fascinating topics, like the evolution of the concept of spacetime
and the unusual amazing peculiarities emerging by the extensions of relativity, will be done.
Keywords:
INTRODUCTION
The Einstein’s theory of general relativity (1915) is a theory concerning space, time and gravity. Before 1905,
the causal structure of space and time identified a notion of simultaneity: for a given event “A”, i.e. a point in
space at an instant of time, it is possible to define the future of “A”, all events that, in principle, can be achieved
by a particle which starts from “A” (Einstein & Lawson, 2012 - Einstein & Infeld, 1967 - Einstein, 2013). The
same can be said for the past of “A”. What is not in the past or in the future of “A” is the set of simultaneous
events to “A”. This implied the possibility of separating the study of space-time in separate studies of space and
time. This is the pre-relativistic notion of the structure of space-time. The theory of relativity has aroused a great
philosophical interest for its deep implications on crucial concepts, such as those of space, time, matter, absolute,
relative, and for the assignment of physical meaning to non-Euclidean geometries, issues that have their roots
and are inherent to the essence of the man, since his childhood.
Identifying space with gravitational field, physics becomes a real geometry, a doctrine of the possible forms
in the space. Even this close link to the geometry leads to the early experiences of the child, relative to her/his
orientation in space. Hans Reichenbach spoke of a theory that is based on a critique of the apodictic character of
each “a-priori” concept, by means of the method of successive approximation of the principles to the experience,
that is the main modality with which the child compares her/himself to the external world (Reichenbach, 1957 -
Reichenbach, 2011).
For all that, the Einstein’s theory becomes an important and precious contribution, described with high
mathematics elegance, which is based on the fundamental concepts of space and time and has a large cross on
the first child’s activities, related to the knowledge and understanding of the world (Di Sia, 2013).
THE NOTIONS OF SPACE AND TIME IN PRIMARY SCHOOL
The theme of space and time leads to interesting proposals for cross activities as early as in the primary
school. It is possible to consider:
1) the use of space as exploration of different environments and organization of spatial relationships;
2) the acquisition of the spatial orientation and the intuition of the first simple concepts of geometry and
measurement (logic-mathematical area) (Polya, 1973);
3) to know how to manage the basis motor skills in different situations, in an increasingly and autonomous
modality, through:
- the self-knowledge,
- the knowledge of the other (psycho-motor area),
- the knowledge of the objects,
- the knowledge of the space-time (Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian, 1978).
E-mail address: paolo.disia@gmail.com
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