Teaching Special Relativity Using Physlets ®

THE PHYSICS TEACHER ◆ Vol. 42, May 2004 In a recent paper in this journal1 we presented work on the creation and use of Physlet-based2 exercises to teach physical and wave optics. Since then we have developed ready-to-run exercises for introductory physics3, 4 and have developed Physletbased exercises for more advanced topics such as quantum mechanics. In this paper we describe the materials we have created to aid in the teaching and learning of introductory special relativity. There are many reasons to focus on special relativity. Special relativity is the first topic presented in the modern physics section of introductory physics courses and in the sophomore-level modern physics course. It is full of (apparent) paradoxes, and like quantum mechanics, is one of the intriguing theories that continues to captivate students’ interest in physics. In addition, because special relativity focuses on abstract concepts, the visualization that Physlet-based material provides is especially valuable.