A Comparison of Short and Long Einsteinian Physics Intervention Programmes in Middle School
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| Title: | A Comparison of Short and Long Einsteinian Physics Intervention Programmes in Middle School |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Choudhary, Rahul (ORCID |
| Source: | Research in Science Education. Feb 2022 52(1):305-324. |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 20 |
| Publication Date: | 2022 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Junior High Schools Middle Schools Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | Comparative Analysis, Program Length, Physics, Intervention, Middle School Students, Science Education |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11165-020-09944-8 |
| ISSN: | 0157-244X |
| Abstract: | The need to modernise school physics to encompass the fundamentals of Einsteinian physics is widely recognised. While the ability of students to comprehend qualitative Einsteinian concepts has been demonstrated, little information exists to determine the best student age and the duration of instruction required for introducing Einsteinian physics concepts. Here, we compare 1-day excursion-based interventions with longer 10- and 20-lesson interventions spread over 3 and 10 weeks, respectively. The programmes covered similar materials with quantitative evaluations for students in year 7 and 9 (13-15 years old). While short-duration interventions are shown to be adequate for introducing core concepts, the longer-duration interventions led to significantly improved uptake of derived concepts. Differences in uptake according to academic talent and gender were observed, particularly for derived concepts. The students tested had generally positive attitudes to science, which changed little during the interventions. The results provide valuable information for introducing Einsteinian physics at schools. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2022 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1327474 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwHMzhm2c0WySsN5uGYKN5bFAAAA4jCB3wYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHRMIHOAgEAMIHIBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDK6A-zZ9St8GlpwhxwIBEICBmj2VkO_5NSJVGO2yZm7v6J_zq-9L8yFm3x8iv2Xia_xHZk_NCHm4c6TVqBYNgTnV9CYUNXnuLlMoC_eUkdyjnDScJbBZKC4ItyWAEKioF-jb2AoLR27lRIAvKo8yRsvStAAgl4Fgl-qXFrXa_DfUxQUrb2m71fg96Wm2CqhjhfbC9uNIyErU66T9eH95Odu1Ypt3kiYfyVcoAmU= Text: Availability: 1 Value: <anid>AN0154922189;g7201feb.22;2022Jan31.00:10;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0154922189-1">A Comparison of Short and Long Einsteinian Physics Intervention Programmes in Middle School </title> <p>The need to modernise school physics to encompass the fundamentals of Einsteinian physics is widely recognised. While the ability of students to comprehend qualitative Einsteinian concepts has been demonstrated, little information exists to determine the best student age and the duration of instruction required for introducing Einsteinian physics concepts. Here, we compare 1-day excursion-based interventions with longer 10- and 20-lesson interventions spread over 3 and 10 weeks, respectively. The programmes covered similar materials with quantitative evaluations for students in year 7 and 9 (13–15 years old). While short-duration interventions are shown to be adequate for introducing core concepts, the longer-duration interventions led to significantly improved uptake of derived concepts. Differences in uptake according to academic talent and gender were observed, particularly for derived concepts. The students tested had generally positive attitudes to science, which changed little during the interventions. The results provide valuable information for introducing Einsteinian physics at schools.</p> <p>Keywords: Einsteinian physics; Student learning; Long intervention; Short-intervention</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Einsteinian physics (EP hereafter) is the foundation of modern physics and has given us the theoretical underpinnings of technology in the modern world. It includes the theories of relativity and quantum physics that were developed in the early twentieth century by Einstein, Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg and many others. (Einstein [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref1">18</reflink>]; Planck [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref2">36</reflink>]; Kuhn [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref3">31</reflink>]).</p> <p>Einstein's general theory of relativity was motivated in part by the recognition that Newton's Law of Gravitation could not be correct because it implies that gravity is transmitted instantaneously, in violation of the light-speed limit of special relativity. In 1916, Einstein found a wave solution to his newly published field equations of general relativity (Einstein [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref4">19</reflink>]) which predicted gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime curvature that travel at light speed. One century later, the fifth detection of gravitational waves (Abbott et al. [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref5">1</reflink>]) confirmed that gravity travels at the speed of light, to an astonishing precision of about one part in 10<sups>15</sups>. The measurement technology that has enabled the detection of gravitational waves encompasses most aspects of EP, and the discoveries themselves can only be explained using EP.</p> <p>In general, EP provides our best current understanding of the universe, as well as for understanding technologies we all use and depend on every day (Christensen and Moore [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref6">14</reflink>]). We believe it is very relevant, and therefore essential to introduce EP to the school curriculum. The birth of gravitational-wave astronomy alone provides a strong reason for including the breadth of EP within the school curriculum (Abbott et al. [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref7">1</reflink>]; Farr et al. [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref8">20</reflink>]).</p> <p>However, EP is rarely taught in schools beyond a superficial level. The educators consider that the learning of Newtonian concepts should precede the learning of Einsteinian concepts, a process that parallels the historical process of discovery. Most school textbooks are based on Newtonian physics, although the conceptual foundation is rarely analysed. Only when students specialise in the upper school and university physics do they have an opportunity to learn EP concepts. Generally, teachers consider that the concepts of EP are too difficult and too advanced for young people to grasp. There is often a belief that EP requires the introduction of topics such as tensor calculus, wave functions, and multidimensional vector spaces.</p> <p>We (and other researchers) have challenged this idea, and there is now a body of literature demonstrating that young people are capable of grasping the fundamental concepts of EP (Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref9">25</reflink>]; Kersting et al. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref10">30</reflink>]; Choudhary et al. [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref11">13</reflink>]). Indeed, our evidence indicates that students more readily accept EP if they learn it before classical Newtonian concepts have been entrenched. But its introduction requires a better understanding of appropriate ages and teaching approaches. The research presented here is designed to contribute to this understanding. Before we explore more about students' understanding of EP, let us explore the concepts of EP broadly covered in this study.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-3">The Concepts of Einsteinian Physics</hd> <p>The EP concepts are based on the two pillars of modern physics: quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of relativity. It is useful to contrast these concepts with those of classical physics.</p> <p>In middle schools, students obtain an implicit understanding that space in which they exist is Euclidean. Cartesian coordinates, absolute time and the localisation of particles are introduced as self-evident truths, without discussion. The concepts of EP violate the implicit assumptions of Euclidean geometry and Newtonian physics. Unlike Newtonian physics, Einstein's theory of relativity interconnects gravity with space, time and matter. We live in a four-dimensional spacetime that can curve due to matter. Massive objects can distort spacetime, resulting in gravitational effects. Time is not absolute: it can move slower or faster depending on the observer's speed and location.</p> <p>Similarly, in classical physics, waves and particles are considered different entities, with different properties. For example, when a cricket ball, a grain of sand or a molecule is treated as a particle, we consider its energy and momentum to be localized in space, whereas the energy of a wave is spread out in space. Particles are characterized by energy and momentum, while waves are characterized by frequency and wavelength. In the quantum description, wave-like behaviour and particle-like behaviour are universal characteristics of everything. For example, a cricket ball, a grain of sand, an electron or a photon all have both wave-like and particle-like properties. In gravitational-wave detectors, the 40-kg test masses and the laser beams used to measure the distance between them can only be correctly understood using a quantum description.</p> <p>The universal relationship between wave-like and particle-like behaviour is expressed by de Broglie's relation:</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;math display="block" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"&gt;&lt;mtext&gt;wavelength&lt;/mtext&gt;&lt;mo&gt;=&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mtext&gt;Planck&lt;/mtext&gt;&lt;mo&gt;'&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mi mathvariant="normal"&gt;s&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;mspace width="0.25em" /&gt;&lt;mtext&gt;constant&lt;/mtext&gt;&lt;mo&gt;/&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;mtext&gt;momentum&lt;/mtext&gt;&lt;mo&gt;.&lt;/mo&gt;&lt;/math&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>Graph</p> <p>In the case of a cricket ball, the tiny size of Planck's constant (6.6 × 10<sups>−34</sups> J.s), significant mass and non-zero speed means that the wavelength is extremely small except in special conditions, such as test masses in gravitational-wave detectors. Photon also follows de Broglie's relation with wavelength large enough to show observable wave-like behaviour, which led to the nineteenth-century description of light as a classical wave. Also, a photon's momentum is so small that, in most circumstances, its particle-like nature can often be neglected, but again, not in gravitational-wave detectors nor in the current vibrant research field of quantum optomechanics (Aspelmeyer et al. [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref12">7</reflink>]).</p> <p>The light interference can be interpreted without neglecting its particle characteristics. We follow Feynman's statement (Feynman [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref13">21</reflink>]):"I want to emphasize that light comes in this form—particles. It is very important to know that light behaves like particles, especially for those of you who have gone to school, where you were probably told something about light behaving like waves".The interference patterns that we see are results of the random arrival of photons, which eventually create quasi-continuous patterns that are interpreted as waves in the classical description. Single-photon interference videos clearly show interference patterns emerging from the random arrival of photons (Aspden et al. [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref14">6</reflink>]). Photons, electrons and molecules as massive as phthalocyanine (Juffmann et al. [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref15">24</reflink>]) create similar interference patterns, thereby emphasising the universality of the de Broglie relation. In quantum mechanics, the classical wave can be replaced by a mathematical quantity called the wave function whose squared magnitude gives the probability of locating a quantum particle.</p> <p>The Feynman sum of all possible paths calculates the arrival probability as if a classical wave, such as a water wave, were following the possible paths. The beautiful method of phasors, invented by Heaviside and Steinmetz in 1893 (Araújo and Tonidandel [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref16">4</reflink>]) turns the addition of waves from messy calculus into a simple geometric addition of vectors (Table 1).</p> <p>Table 1 The table compares the Newtonian concepts with the Einsteinian concepts we are attempting to teach in this programme</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Newtonian physics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Einsteinian physics&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravity is a force that emanates from matter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravity is a geometric phenomenon inherent in the warping of spacetime by matter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravity is an instantaneous force that travels at infinite speed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravitational disturbances travel at the speed of light.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time is absolute: it is the same everywhere.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time is warped due to matter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matter and space are independent of each other.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matter changes the shape of spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Space is absolute and is described by Euclidean geometry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Spacetime is curved and is described by non-Euclidean geometry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light always travels as waves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light travels in a stream of particles called photons and can exhibit wave-like characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;The concepts of waves and particles are independent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everything combines particle-like properties with wave-like properties.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trajectories can be absolutely determined by sufficiently precise measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Trajectories have intrinsic uncertainty and measurements are probabilistic.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>It is useful to create an inventory of Einsteinian concepts that might be taught at school. For both pedagogy and analysis, we divided the concepts of EP into two categories: (a) core concepts, and (b) derived concepts. Derived concepts generally follow from the core concepts, although the separation is somewhat arbitrary. Table 2 lists core and derived Einsteinian concepts, from which we selected topics for our intervention programmes. A complete Einsteinian physics curriculum would include those listed but include other areas, particularly in the area of the properties of matter.</p> <p>Table 2 List of concepts</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Core concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Space has shape.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;A geodesic is the shortest distance between two points in curved space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Geometry in curved space is different from geometry in flat space.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The speed of light is the speed limit of the universe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Space and time together form four-dimensional spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matter curves spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time is relative and depends on speed and distance from a mass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light comes as a stream of particles called photons.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Photons impart momentum to objects (radiation pressure).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everything has wave-like and particle-like characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wavelength, frequency, phase, amplitude, momentum, energy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Derived concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Freely falling objects follow geodesics in spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Distortion of images of stars and distant galaxies is due to deflection of light by masses&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Warping of time causes gravity on Earth.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The momentum of photons and their random arrival times cause uncertainty in measurements.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;When light can take two or more alternative paths, interference occurs.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wavelength sets the scale-size for measurements based on interference.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interference patterns are composed of individual photons that have different probabilities of arrival at different locations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The probability of a photon arriving is determined by the vector sum of phasors for each possible path.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0154922189-4">The Educational Aspects of the EP Concepts</hd> <p>In this section, we address the discrepancy between current approaches of teaching in schools in relation to Einsteinian physics and review the literature to contextualise this research.</p> <p>Velentzas and Halkia ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref17">46</reflink>]) and Kersting et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref18">30</reflink>]) suggest that relativity and quantum physics require high-level mathematical skills beyond the reach of high school students. There is also a lack of appropriate materials for visualizing quantum phenomena, which can lead to a highly abstract approach to teaching (Müller and Wiesner [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref19">32</reflink>]). For instance, without appropriate aids, it is very difficult to interpret the curvature of spacetime or wave nature of matter in day-to-day life. Velentzas and Halkia ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref20">46</reflink>]) emphasised the importance of thought experiments in teaching general relativity. Before 2010, there was little research in the field of teaching modern physics in classrooms. Velentzas and Halkia ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref21">46</reflink>]) reviewed papers published in Science Education, International Journal of Science Education and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching from 2006 to 2010. They were able to trace only nine papers on the topic of EP and most of them were on chemistry education.</p> <p>Since 2010, there has been increasing research on introducing general relativity and quantum physics at high school. For example, Farr et al. ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref22">20</reflink>]) described a set of curriculum modifications designed to integrate gravitational-wave astronomy in school physics and astronomy curriculum. Bungum et al. ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref23">11</reflink>]) showed that quantum physics and relativity have the potential to increase students' fascination about physics, but emphasised these topics do not have a well-established place in school curricula internationally. They suggest using activity-based learning, maximum interaction for engagement, use of the history of physics in supporting conceptual development, in-depth discussion of critical concepts and simulation tools for quantum physics. Stannard ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref24">40</reflink>]) and Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref25">26</reflink>]) described models and analogies, which are suitable for teaching relativity at the high school level.</p> <p>Most of the aforementioned papers focus on introducing EP at a pre-tertiary level (16–18 years old). We only know of three papers that address the challenge of introducing EP at the middle school level (12–15 years old). (Baldy [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref26">9</reflink>]; Pitts et al. [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref27">35</reflink>]; Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref28">25</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref29">26</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref30">27</reflink>]). Out of these three papers, only two papers emphasise the extensive use of analogies for teaching EP. Therefore, in the next section, we describe the role of models and analogies because the entire study is premised on activity-based learning.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-5">The Role of Models and Analogies for Teaching EP</hd> <p>The role of analogies in engendering an understanding of concepts is widely recognised. There is a large body of literature which emphasise the value of analogies in teaching science. For example, Treagust et al. ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref31">43</reflink>]) have shown the importance of analogies in teaching refraction to year 10 students (15 years old). Pitts et al. ([<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref32">35</reflink>]) and Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref33">25</reflink>]) provide evidence that analogies are powerful means of teaching EP when used in activity-based learning. Abed ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref34">2</reflink>]) emphasises the importance of employing drama in teaching science. All these papers show the importance of activity-based learning in teaching EP.</p> <p>While it is important to emphasise the advantages of the models and analogies, we think it is also essential to recognise their limitations. Treagust et al. ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref35">43</reflink>]) noted, "Analogies are not as effective in the classroom as might be expected. Uncritical use of analogies may generate alternative conceptions." This is particularly relevant for teaching EP. For instance, the popular rubber sheet analogy for general relativity offers a risk of confusion because gravity is used for creating curvature. More extreme analogies (described in Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref36">26</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref37">27</reflink>]), such as using the curved surface of a wok to represent 2D curved space, and the use of nerf gun bullets as toy photons offer less risk of confusion because their limitations are more obvious, and their shortcomings can be used to highlight key concepts of EP. For example, nerf gun bullets provide an opportunity for contrasting local reality, which is obvious as the in-flight reality of the nerf gun bullet, with the real quantum phenomenon of <emph>local reality violation</emph> in which the identity and location of the photon are undefined until detected.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-6">The Objective of this Study</hd> <p>The objective of this research was guided by the following three research questions (RQ hereafter):</p> <p>RQ1. How does the duration of the EP programme impact student achievement of conceptual learning?</p> <p>We tried to explore the depth of their understanding based on academic ability and type of concepts. We analysed the results based on these aspects guided by RQ1.</p> <p>RQ2. What are the outcomes of Einsteinian physics program with regard to gender effects?</p> <p>Several studies have shown that female student interest in STEM subjects can be cultivated at the high school level (Tai et al. [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref38">41</reflink>]; National Academies [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref39">33</reflink>]; Brophy et al. [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref40">10</reflink>]; Calabrese et al. [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref41">12</reflink>]; Archer et al. [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref42">5</reflink>]; Sikora and Pokropek [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref43">39</reflink>]). This provided a motivation to investigate the gender benefits of teaching Einsteinian physics.</p> <p>RQ3. How does the duration of the EP programme impact student attitudinal change?</p> <p>All previous studies conducted in this project has been a 1-day, 4-lesson, 6-lesson and 20-lesson programmes (Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref44">25</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref45">26</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref46">27</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref47">28</reflink>]; Choudhary et al. [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref48">13</reflink>]) where we assessed whether the understanding of Einsteinian physics concepts is intrinsically difficult. The idea was to conduct EP programmes of different duration and compare students' uptake of the concepts. In this study, we designed a 10-lesson programme (10 h to be delivered in 3 weeks) and compared the results with a largely equivalent 1-day programme (4 h) and 20-lesson (15 h) programme.</p> <p>Studies have found there is no definitive answer on the impact of instructional duration for student learning. This is rather a complex issue, and there is no evidence of significant difference in student learning for different time duration. The amount of instructional time is not as important as how the instructional time is spent (Joyner and Molina [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref49">23</reflink>]). Instructional time is dependent on its curriculum and the instructional quality (Baker et al. [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref50">8</reflink>]). Through this study, we aim to achieve information on student learning of EP for different instructional time, since the way the instructional time spent was are largely the same for all the programmes. This could be useful for curriculum design while incorporating EP concepts as we have already studied the effects of longer and shorter interventions on EP. Moreover, 20-lesson interventions are often difficult to conduct due to lack of time in schools. In addition to finding an optimum number of lessons, we wanted to determine whether students' attitude was affected by the duration of the EP programmes.</p> <p>A widespread use of 1-day excursions in education, (DeWitt and Storksdieck [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref51">16</reflink>]; Clark et al. [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref52">15</reflink>]) and the opportunity to compare learning outcomes for similar material presented in an excursion context and the classroom context also served as one of the motivations to conduct this study.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-7">About the Programmes</hd> <p>All three programmes were based on similar models and analogies as activity-based learning. We compared student learning of a few core and derived concepts listed in Table 2. It is important to provide the background of the 1-day and the 20-lesson programme before we describe the 10-day programme in detail, which is the focus of the paper.</p> <p>The 1-day intervention (programme 1) was a 4-h intensive programme focused on the quantum properties of light and gravitational waves. The programme was based on an excursion to a specialist gravitational-wave research centre. The time available, equivalent to five classroom sessions, combined with the novel location and 1-h bus trip each way, was expected to give a maximum possible impact. Results were published by Choudhary et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref53">13</reflink>]). In this 1-day programme, repeated with four classes of years 7–10 (12–15 years old) from the same school, we used seven questions to analyse students' understanding before and after the programme. The programme involved whole-class activities including role-play, models and analogies, a power-point session including videos and three laser interference experiments undertaken by students working in pairs. We found that the learning of derived concepts increased gradually with year level while the learning of the core concepts was largely the same across all years.</p> <p>The results of programme 1 were in marked contrast with 20-lesson intervention (programme 2) delivered in 10 weeks to year 9 (14–15-year-old) students, which indicated a high level of conceptual learning of EP concepts (Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref54">28</reflink>]). Programme 2 was based on extensive use of models and analogies (discussed in Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref55">26</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref56">27</reflink>])) for teaching EP. It was mainly focussed on curved geometry, the principle of mass-energy equivalence, free-fall and uncertainty principle. The concept of light was only explored superficially in this program. Each lesson consisted of 45 min structured as follows:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> First 15 min for introducing and presenting materials of the lesson</item> <p></p> <item> Next 15 min for group activity</item> <p></p> <item> Final 15 min for class discussion and worksheets.</item> </ulist> <p>The details of the participating students of this programme are provided in the programme delivery section.</p> <p>The primary reason for designing programme 3, the 10-lesson intervention, was to investigate an optimum number of lessons for teaching EP by comparing it to a 1-day and 20-lesson programme. Each lesson was dedicated to a concept supported by an activity. The sequencing of the lessons was purely based on the concepts. The first lesson supported by role-playing was used to create learning environment and encourage whole-class participation. The next four lessons were based on individual concepts followed by four more lessons to elucidate the depth of the concepts and a final session for consolidation. Greater detail of the programme is provided in the programme delivery section.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-8">Method</hd> <p>We based our research on constructivist epistemology where activity-based learning is used as pedagogical tools for conceptual change (Duit and Treagust [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref57">17</reflink>]). A multidimensional theoretical framework for conceptual change including epistemological, ontological and social/affective perspectives (Treagust and Duit [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref58">42</reflink>]; Tyson et al. [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref59">44</reflink>]) is used to draw meaning from the data. The data collected is used to analyse, design and evaluate learning environments before implementation of the contents. This is necessary for the overarching goal of developing a reformed Einsteinian physics curriculum.</p> <p>The research was framed within a quantitative, empirical-analytical design. A pre- and post-test quasi-experimental procedure was followed to record data and perform its analysis. The following sections discuss the programme delivery, outline of programme 3, instrument used for the research, data analysis and validity. Programme 3 involved lessons on quantum properties of light as well as general relativity. We used 10 questions on light and gravity. Students had sufficient time to reinforce the concepts with activities in every lesson as well as worksheets that followed every lesson.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-9">Programme Delivery and Participants</hd> <p>In programme 3, the students were from two groups: academically talented students in science (ATS hereafter) and mainstream students from Shenton College, Perth. The ATS was a group selected by the school through a rigorous selection process. In a group of 26 ATS, 16 were male and 10 female. In a group of 24 mainstream students, 12 were male and 12 female. All were year 7 students (12-years-old).</p> <p>Programme 3 was spread over 3 weeks where each lesson was of 1-h duration. Students performed activities presented along with slides. Each lesson followed worksheets, which had to be completed and submitted before the commencement of the next lesson. Programme 1 was delivered to students of Mount Lawley Senior High School described in our previous study (Choudhary et al. [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref60">13</reflink>]). We compared our results with year 7 (12-year-old) students. Programme 2 was delivered to a group of year 9 (14-year-old) ATS from Shenton College in 2014 which was spread over 10 weeks. Both the participating schools are amongst the top performers in Western Australia and enrol students from a similar socio-economic background. The presenters in all the three programmes were at least one of the first three authors in this paper. Both the programmes were similar to the programme 3; they were based on activity-based learning for teaching light and gravity. The pre-/post-test questionnaires used were nearly identical and students were from similar socio-economic background (Table 3).</p> <p>Table 3 Overview of all the three programmes</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th /&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Year&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Duration&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Period&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;School&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;No. of participants&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2017&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 day (4 h)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1 day&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mount Lawley Senior High School&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;24&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2014&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;20-lessons (15 h)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;10 weeks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shenton College&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;57&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2018&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;10-lessons (10 h)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3 weeks&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mount Lawley Senior High School&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;50&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>In the following table, we summarise the activities for programme 3. These activities were used for intuitive learning of concepts. They are explained in detail by Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref61">26</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref62">27</reflink>]) and Choudhary et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref63">13</reflink>]) (Table 4).</p> <p>Table 4 Outline of programme 3</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th /&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lesson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Main concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Supporting activities or videos&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Description&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Heroes of science&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ongoing process of the discovery of fundamental concepts including photons and gravitational waves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Students dressed up as scientists to enact a role-play based on events starting from Maxwell, Hertz, Einstein, Feynman and Physics Nobel laureates of 2017.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;The role-play explored the discovery of electromagnetic waves, and then the photoelectric effect, which was explained by Einstein using light quanta (photons), and finally to the (at times controversial) prediction of gravitational waves, which culminated with their detection.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is space?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;A geodesic is a 'straight-line' in curved space and follows non-Euclidean geometry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Geometry on woks (2D space). Students construct triangles on a curved surface to learn non-Euclidean geometry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was based on measuring the shape of space. Students performed experimental geometry (constructing triangles using magnetic poles on woks) to learn the difference between Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is time?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Time is warped. Matter curves spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rubber sheet analogy (spacetime simulator) to describe spacetime curvature.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;We explained non-simultaneity of events to students. We described how gravity on Earth is a manifestation of warped time. A chequered rubber sheet was used to demonstrate the warping of spacetime due to a mass.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is gravity?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gravity is the manifestation of curved spacetime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rubber sheet analogy (spacetime simulator) to describe gravity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;We used rubber sheet analogy as a spacetime simulator for general relativity. Its limitations were carefully discussed to avoid potential confusions. We used John Wheeler's aphorism "Matter tells spacetime how to curve, spacetime tells matter how to move."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is light?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light comes as a stream of particles (photons). Photons can impart momentum on objects (radiation pressure).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Photon momentum effect with Nerf gun bullets analogy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;We used toy-model mirrors and nerf gun bullets to demonstrate the effect of photon momentum. The nerf gun bullets were an analogue of photons. On hitting the toy mirrors, the movement of the mirrors represented the effect of photon momentum.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matter and radiation&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everything has wave-like and particle-like characteristics. De Broglie momentum and wavelength characteristics. Mass-energy relationship&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;E = mc&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Videos of (a) single-photon interference, (b) single-molecule interference, (c) interference of water waves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;We used videos of single-photon interference &lt;underline&gt;(&lt;/underline&gt;&lt;ext-link ext-link-type="url" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbLzh1Y9POQ" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbLzh1Y9POQ" /&gt;&lt;underline&gt;)&lt;/underline&gt; and videos of single-molecule interference &lt;underline&gt;(&lt;/underline&gt;&lt;ext-link ext-link-type="url" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUS6%5fS1KzC8" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUS6%5fS1KzC8" /&gt;&lt;underline&gt;)&lt;/underline&gt; to emphasise the universality of wave and particle characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maths in Einstein's world&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Maths is more than numbers. Relative speeds and quantum probability.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Addition of arrows and connection between constructive and destructive interference. Rules for adding vectors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;We presented the mathematical formulation by introducing graphical vector arithmetic and phasors at a high school level. Students worked with physical models (cardboard arrows) to add or cancel phasors as shown in Fig. 1.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;8&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light interference&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wavelength sets the scale-size of measurement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Interference in a soap film, Diffraction of light using human hair.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Students performed interference experiments working in groups of 3&amp;#8211;4. Two interference experiments were set up, one exhibiting soap film interference and the other for measuring the diameter of human hair by diffraction&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Effects of gravity&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Planetary precession, spaghettification around a black hole, binary black holes, the speed of gravitational waves.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Demonstration of gravity effects in rubber sheet analogy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was focused on demonstrating the different effects of gravity. Students used the rubber sheet model (spacetime simulator) to create binary black holes with two heavy balls and tidal effects. We also discussed gravitational waves using a video available at &lt;ext-link ext-link-type="url" href="http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v1" title="www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v1" /&gt;&lt;underline&gt;.&lt;/underline&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;10&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Consolidation session&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Revision of main concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Revision of the main activities&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was designed to review and consolidate student learning through an interactive discussion session between the presenters and the class.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>Lesson 7 was about mathematics of phasors used in Einsteinian physics. Students can use the graphical addition of phasors (a simple case is shown in Fig. 1) for alternative paths to determine the probability of a photon arriving at a particular location via two possible paths (such as a double-slit experiment). Full details of this and an extended programme using phasor-wheel activities for teaching the Feynman quantum path integral approach to quantum physics will be published elsewhere.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 The figure shows arrows that are combined ("added") using vector addition. The head of the first arrow is placed at the tail of the second, without changing the direction of either arrow. The students then draw the final arrow from the tail of the first arrow to the head of the last one. The final arrow represents the probability amplitude of an event to occur</p> <p>The potential misconceptions were avoided using videos and images as well as worksheets which followed every lesson. The first lesson (role-play) was meant for maximum engagement and the worksheets promoted critical thinking.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-10">Instrument</hd> <p>We developed two pairs of identical questionnaires: pre- and post-conceptual questionnaires and pre- and post-attitudinal questionnaires, to administer before and after the programme. The questions were based on prior experience and previously designed questionnaires. More background to it is provided in (Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref64">28</reflink>]; Choudhary et al. [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref65">13</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-11">Conceptual Questionnaire</hd> <p>We designed conceptual questionnaires to determine students' understanding of the core and the derived concepts. Only content-based items were asked in the programme. In total, we asked 10 questions, out of which Q8, Q9, and Q10 (see Table 2) were to test the 'derived' concepts.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-12">Attitudinal Questionnaire</hd> <p>We designed the attitudinal questionnaire to test students' attitude after the programme. We used a 5-point Likert scale to design questions to test students' attitude towards science before and after the programme. The Likert scale scores were quantified according to the 1–5 scale, 1 for strongly disagree and 5 for strongly agree.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-13">Data Analysis and Interpretation</hd> <p>Data analysis of the conceptual questionnaire compared students' pre- and post-test scores. The ratio of post- and pre-test average scores was obtained to find the improvement factor for each attitudinal question. The scores of question numbers 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the attitudinal questionnaire were inverted because these responses were based on negative statements.</p> <p>The conceptual questions required short responses, the answers to which were evaluated and marked. The marking criteria were full marks for a correct answer with an explanation, half for a correct answer without explanation and 0 for no response or incorrect response.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-14">Questionnaire Validity</hd> <p>The questions were validated based on the following points:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> We used the topics covered in the programme as the basis of designing conceptual and attitudinal questionnaires where only content-related items were tested.</item> <p></p> <item> We considered whether the students can interpret the questions correctly. For example, for the question "What is light", it was explicitly explained that here "light" does not mean the opposite of "heavy".</item> <p></p> <item> The attitudinal questions were selected from the literature (Effecting Principled Improvement in STEM Education [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref66">45</reflink>]; Girls in physics classroom [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref67">22</reflink>]) but in some cases modified to match the programme. For example, the first question was matched with the content of the program viz. gravity and light.</item> <p></p> <item> A panel of science educators and physicists validated the questions to make it comprehensible at the right level.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0154922189-15">Statistical Analysis</hd> <p>We performed a <emph>t</emph> test for statistical significance using the conventional (but arbitrary) significance value of <emph>p</emph> = 0.05. The <emph>t</emph> value was obtained to be less than 0.05 in each case.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-16">Results</hd> <p>To answer RQ1, "How does the duration of the EP programme impact student achievement of conceptual learning?" we compared the conceptual scores and analysed the results in terms of individual questions, core concepts, derived concepts and students' academic talent. RQ2 is used to address the effects of Einsteinian physics with regard to gender. Similarly, for RQ3, we compared the attitudinal scores based on students' academic talent and gender.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-17">Analysis of Individual Questions</hd> <p>We analysed the percentage of students who provided an Einsteinian explanation to every question before and after programme 3. For example, when asked about gravity, if a student explained that gravity is a force that emanates from matter, we considered it as a Newtonian explanation; whereas gravity occurs because of curvature of spacetime was considered as an Einsteinian explanation. For every question, we followed the same rule.</p> <p>The results indicate a significant improvement in student learning of the concepts after the programme. A low improvement in question no. 5, particularly for mainstream classes, indicates the limitations of the rubber sheet analogy in teaching EP. We discuss this further in the analysis of the core concepts.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-18">Comparison of Scores between Three Programmes</hd> <p>It is important to consider the validity of comparing the three programmes. Programme 1 and programme 3 were with the same age groups at different schools but all with similar socio-economic catchments, and similar but not identical content. In particular, the Michelson interferometer gravitational-wave detector experiment available in programme 1 was not used in programme 3. The total learning time was less in the 1-day programme, but also the enhancement of a new and exciting setting was absent in the in-class lessons. Programme 2 was undertaken with older students and included significantly more content especially in the area of special relativity. Programmes 1 and 2 are described in the "about the program" section. The results were published in Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref68">28</reflink>]) and Choudhary et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref69">13</reflink>]) where more details can be found.</p> <p>Table 6 The table summarises the overall students' performance for the three programmes for pre-test and post-test results.</p> <p>The results indicate a significant improvement in student learning with increased time duration.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-19">Analysis of the Core Concepts and the Derived Concepts</hd> <p>In Table 5, we observed that a majority of the students were able to provide an Einsteinian explanation for questions 1–7. Only 4% of the mainstream students and 60% of the ATS students provided an Einsteinian explanation of gravity whereas 83% of the mainstream students and 38% of the ATS provided a Newtonian explanation. Most of the mainstream students wrote that gravity is a force, but when we analysed the question "What is space", more than 85% of them explained that matter curves spacetime. From this, we can conclude that although rubber sheet analogy was successful in describing the curvature of space, it was insufficient for explaining gravity, particularly to the mainstream students.</p> <p>Table 5 Percentage of students in programme 3 who learned the Einsteinian concept</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th rowspan="2" /&gt;&lt;th rowspan="2" /&gt;&lt;th colspan="4"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Percentage of students who learned the Einsteinian concept&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mainstream (10-lessons) &lt;italic&gt;N&lt;/italic&gt; = 24&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;ATS (10-lessons)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;italic&gt;N&lt;/italic&gt; = 26&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Questions/concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can parallel lines meet?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;8%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;36%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;100%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can sum of the angles of a triangle be more than 180&amp;#176;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;28%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;92%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;100%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is space?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;36%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;88%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;69%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;85%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;If a hammer and a feather are dropped, which will reach the ground first?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;12%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;44%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;100%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;100%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;5.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is gravity?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;58%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;6.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What is light?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;54%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;15%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;69%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;7.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Can light exert forces on things?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;92%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;35%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;88%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;8.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;If light takes two alternate paths, interference can occur&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;84%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;73%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;9.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What aspect of light is used to make a precise measurement?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;40%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;54%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;10.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;What aspect of light can cause uncertainty in measurement?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;40%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;50%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>Table 6 A comparison between 1-day, 10-lesson and 20-lesson programme</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th /&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Programme 3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;One-day (year 7 students)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;italic&gt;N&lt;/italic&gt; = 24&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;20-lesson (year 9 students) &lt;italic&gt;N&lt;/italic&gt; = 57&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;10-lesson (year 7 students) &lt;italic&gt;N&lt;/italic&gt; = 50&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mean scores&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;27%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;53%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;27%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;89%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;22%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;78%&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>Table 7 Percentage of year 7 students with the correct answer</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th rowspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Core concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mainstream (10-lessons)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;ATS&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(10-lessons)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mainstream&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1 day)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre (%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post (%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post (%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(%)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light comes as a stream of particles called photons&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;54&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;15&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;69&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;21&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;67&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Light can exert forces on things called radiation pressure&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;92&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;35&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;88&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;25&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;83&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Average&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;2&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;73&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;25&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;78.5&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;23&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;75&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Derived concepts&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;If light takes two alternate paths, interference can occur*&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;84&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;73&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8211;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8211;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wavelength sets the scale size of measurement&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;40&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;54&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;19&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Photon momentum can cause uncertainty in measurement&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;40&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;50&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;0&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;21&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Average&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;0&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;55&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;0&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;60&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;0&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;20&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>*Interference was not tested in the 1-day programme questionnaire, and so is left blank in the table</p> <p>Table 8 Analysis of students' attitudinal scores</p> <p> <ephtml> &lt;table frame="hsides" rules="groups"&gt;&lt;thead&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th colspan="6"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mainstream (10-lesson)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="4"&gt;&lt;p&gt;ATS (10-lesson)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;th /&gt;&lt;th /&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boys&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Girls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Boys&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;th colspan="2"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Girls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/th&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/thead&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Questions&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pre-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Post-test mean&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think gravity and light are interesting topics.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;2.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think the things that Einstein discovered are important for modern technology.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I enjoy learning new concepts and ideas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I prefer to learn science by doing activities with other students.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;5.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do not enjoy doing science experiments.&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.8&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.8&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;6.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would like to study science at university.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;7.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I would rather learn from other people than do an experiment to find out for myself.. *&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.7&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;8.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;The science I learn at school is not very relevant to my everyday life.. *&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.1&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.2&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;9.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Science is only for smart people.&lt;sup&gt;*&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;10.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;I do not have much interest in science.. *&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.9&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;3.6&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4.5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;4&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td /&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Average&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;3.7&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.1&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;3.8&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.0&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.4&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.4&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.2&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;bold&gt;4.2&lt;/bold&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt; </ephtml> </p> <p>*Scores of Q5, Q7, Q8, Q9, Q10 (which were designed for negative response in the Likert scale) were inverted for analysis</p> <p>In Table 7 below, we compare students' achievement in core and derived concepts between the 10-lesson and 1-day programme. There were no identical questions in the 20-lesson programme for comparison.</p> <p>The percentage of mainstream students and ATS who described light as a stream of particles called photons were 54% and 69%, respectively. Ninety-two percent of the mainstream and 88% of the ATS were able to explain that light can exert force called radiation pressure. We found their achievements in the core concepts to be comparable in 10-lesson and 1-day programme (see Table 7). Similarly, for the derived concepts, the average post-test scores in the10-lesson programme were 55% and 60% for the mainstream and the ATS respectively. The average post-test score in the 1-day intervention was only 20%. This implies that the 10-lesson programme was more effective in introducing derived concepts compared to 1-day programmes.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-20">Comparison of Mainstream and ATS Students' Scores</hd> <p>Figure 2a, b implies that in every case, the students' post-test scores were independent of their pre-test scores. The highest individual scores achieved were 85% and 100% for the mainstream (10-lesson) and ATS (10-lesson) classes, respectively.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2 a, b Pre- and post-test scores of 24 and 26 students of year 7 mainstream and ATS respectively arranged in ascending order of the pre-test scores. We observe that all students undergo a substantial improvement in their average scores after the programme. The improvements of all students are generally independent of their pre-test scores. The average improvement is by factors of 4.2 and 3.5 for mainstream and ATS students respectively</p> <p>The average post-test scores in the 10-lesson programme were 59% and 74% for the mainstream and the ATS, respectively. The overall improvement factors were 4.2 and 3.5, respectively. Unlike results found by Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref70">28</reflink>]), there was a weak correlation in the pre- and post-test scores that is also visible in Fig. 2a, b. Some of the students with very low pre-scores made dramatic improvements compared to students achieving high pre-score. A regression analysis of both the classes in Fig. 3a, b provides more details.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 3 a, b shows the regression graph between students pre-test vs post-test scores of mainstream and ATS, respectively. A low R2 value in Fig. 3a indicates a weak correlation in mainstream students' pre- and post-test scores in comparison to ATS. As mentioned above, this shows that their performance is independent of their prior knowledge and the effect is largely noticeable in mainstream students.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-21">A Gender-Based Analysis of Student Achievement</hd> <p>The following figures represent the pre- and post-test scores of boys and girls for each class. We briefly explore the outcomes based on gender effects after teaching EP (Figs. 4 and 5).</p> <p>Graph: Fig 4 a, b Pre- and post-test average scores of ATS and mainstream students for boys (in blue) and girls (in orange), respectively. In both classes, the girls' average pre-test scores were lower than the boys'. However, their post-test scores were comparable to boys indicating a larger improvement for girls</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 5 The improvement in the 10-lesson intervention for mainstream boys and girls was by a factor of 3.6 and 4.9, respectively. The improvement in the 10-lesson intervention on ATS boys and girls was by a factor of 3.5 and 3.9, respectively. The improvement in the 1-day intervention on mainstream boys and girls was by a factor of 1.7 and 1.4, respectively. The improvement of girls was greater than boys in the long intervention</p> <p>There was a comparatively low improvement in the 1-day programme and a reversal of the gender effect. Studies have found that male students are motivated in physics and engineering subjects compared to their female counterparts (Patall et al. [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref71">34</reflink>]), and the existence of excursion compared to a classroom setting can be an added factor for this result (Rennie and McClafferty [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref72">37</reflink>]; Schwan et al. [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref73">38</reflink>]). A detailed report on gender response to Einsteinian physics is accepted for publication in Physics Education (2020).</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-22">Analysis of Students' Attitudes</hd> <p>In this section, we answer RQ3: "How does the duration of the EP programme impact student attitudinal change?"(Table 8)</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-23">Attitudinal Change (Mainstream Students)</hd> <p>Students entered the programme with high attitudinal scores for which they did not have much room for improvement. The attitude of the mainstream class slightly improved after the programme. The overall mean score of boys improved from 3.7 to 4.1; for the girls, it improved from 3.8 to 4. We did not find any significant difference in the attitude based on their gender. For few questions such as "I think the things that Einstein discovered are important for modern technology" and "I do not enjoy doing science experiments", a majority of the boys' scores improved after the programme but the scores of the girls remained the same. Similarly, in response to "I enjoy learning new concepts and ideas" and "I do not have much interest in science", the scores of the girls substantially improved compared to the boys.</p> <p>There were few questions such as "I would like to study science at university" and "The science I learn at school is not very relevant to my everyday life" for which there was no significant difference in gender. The response to "I would like to study science in university" indicates that the EP programme was able to induce a positive change in mainstream students' attitude towards a career in science. Overall, the students' attitude did not improve significantly except a few specific questions because of the high pre-scores.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-24">Attitudinal Change (ATS)</hd> <p>The attitudes of ATS students remained the same before and after participating in the programme. A very high score in the pre-questionnaire resulted in a strong ceiling effect. We observed that a majority of the ATS students were highly motivated and scored very positively before the programme. As a result, there was little room for improvement after the programme. For few questions such as "I think the things that Einstein discovered are important for modern technology, "I enjoy learning new concepts and ideas", "I do not enjoy doing science experiments", "Science is only for smart people", the students' scores were extremely high.</p> <p>The very high scores imply that these questions are not useful measures to test academically talented students' attitude. The clear ceiling effect for most of the questions demonstrates that virtually all the students had a very positive attitude towards science, and in particular, they were aware of the importance of EP before entering the programme. There was no significant difference in the improvement of attitude between male and female students.</p> <p>The improvement in attitude was largely noticeable only in the case of the 20-lesson programme. This is evident from the results in programme 2. We showed that there is a larger improvement in female students' attitude than males after teaching Einsteinian physics (Kaur et al. [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref74">29</reflink>])<emph>.</emph> Overall, there was no measurable improvement in the attitude in the 10-lesson programme. Perhaps a high ceiling effect, also observed in our 1-day programme, was the reason for the small improvement in the attitude in the one-day and 10-lesson programmes.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-25">Conclusion</hd> <p>The primary objective of this study was to investigate the optimum number of lessons for introducing Einsteinian physics concepts and induce a positive attitudinal change. We draw the following conclusions by answering the research questions.</p> <p>As evidenced in Table 7, programme duration was not essentially a factor to introduce the core concepts but it plays an important role for introducing the derived concepts. For instance, a 1-day intensive intervention (in this case an excursion to a research centre and science centre), while very popular amongst students and teachers alike was effective for introducing core concepts. However, it was far less effective for enabling understandings of derived concepts than longer in-class interventions. This agrees with other research studies, (DeWitt and Storksdieck [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref75">16</reflink>]) which state that field trips or excursions are not necessarily ideal for teaching isolated facts without a classroom setting, but are more useful for long-term interest and first-hand experience of participants (or introducing core concepts in this case). Therefore, it is important to know that the 1-day programme should be a complement to classroom learning rather than a replacement for curriculum material. We conclude that 10-lesson programmes were sufficient to introduce the EP concepts but a classroom setting is important for this.</p> <p>Our results also indicate that students' academic ability plays an important role in imparting core and derived concepts. Therefore, it is beneficial to introduce the core concepts at earlier ages in preparation for developing more sophisticated Einsteinian understanding in later years. Moreover, there was a significant improvement in girls' learning in the 10-lesson programme. As noted in Kaur et al. ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref76">29</reflink>]), it is difficult to determine whether the positive gender outcome is due to the activity-based learning or the nature of the questions discussed in the programme. Research literature in the field of educational psychology and economics suggest contradictory results on gender effect of student performance (Antecol [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref77">3</reflink>]). We thought female students respond more positively to teaching EP. We have published a detailed report in Physics Education (2020) to address this issue.</p> <p>The results published previously as a part of this project have shown the possibility of introducing Einsteinian physics to schools, and the results presented in this paper add more information to it. For instance, we have addressed the outcomes based on students' academic ability, age group and duration for introducing Einsteinian physics concepts. Hence, these results should be useful for teachers wanting to incorporate Einsteinian physics in schools.</p> <p>The questions used to evaluate student attitudes had an inadequate resolution (5-point Likert scale). This led to a high ceiling effect because students entered the programme with high pre-scores. As a result, there was no measurable change in their attitude in the 1-day and 10-lesson programmes, but there was a strong attitudinal change in the 20-lesson programme. The attitudinal change for females was larger in the 20-lesson programme.</p> <p>To sum it up, our program was based on extensive development of models and analogies, which makes Einsteinian reality vividly and truly intuitive. This required enormous levels of innovation to create pedagogical tools in the form of activity based learning. It facilitated an understanding that is not possible via traditional models. On comparing the students' responses after the activities to that before indicated that, they developed a good understanding of the basic concepts. These concepts were penetrable because school students do not have an entrenched concept of Newtonian reality and engagement with the hands-on treatment was easier for them to comprehend than just treating the topic mathematically.</p> <p>Hence, teachers even with inadequate training in mathematics can use these programmes provided they discuss the limitations of the resources. They can select materials in a way that is appropriate for their classes.</p> <p>As a future prospect, it will be interesting to explore the potential mathematics for introducing these concepts across different year levels. If successfully implemented, this will foster a scientifically literate populace adept to the principles used in modern technologies.</p> <p>It is important to discuss the limitations of this study. There were inherent limitations in the models used in these studies, which have already been mentioned. Although the students came from similar socio-economic background, the variation in the type of students can be a limiting factor in our comparisons. The remedy to this problem is performing longitudinal studies with the same students as they progress in different year-levels. It is being carried out in this year as a part of curriculum design study.</p> <hd id="AN0154922189-26">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council (LP130100893), the Gravity Discovery Centre, the Graham Polly Farmer Foundation and the donor(s) to the projects. 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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: A Comparison of Short and Long Einsteinian Physics Intervention Programmes in Middle School – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Choudhary%2C+Rahul%22">Choudhary, Rahul</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3115-1480">0000-0002-3115-1480</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Foppoli%2C+Alexander%22">Foppoli, Alexander</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kaur%2C+Tejinder%22">Kaur, Tejinder</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Blair%2C+David%22">Blair, David</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Burman%2C+Ron%22">Burman, Ron</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Zadnik%2C+Marjan%22">Zadnik, Marjan</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Research+in+Science+Education%22"><i>Research in Science Education</i></searchLink>. Feb 2022 52(1):305-324. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: Y – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 20 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2022 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research – Name: Audience Label: Education Level Group: Audnce Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Junior+High+Schools%22">Junior High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Middle+Schools%22">Middle Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink> – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Comparative+Analysis%22">Comparative Analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Program+Length%22">Program Length</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physics%22">Physics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intervention%22">Intervention</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Middle+School+Students%22">Middle School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Science+Education%22">Science Education</searchLink> – Name: DOI Label: DOI Group: ID Data: 10.1007/s11165-020-09944-8 – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 0157-244X – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: The need to modernise school physics to encompass the fundamentals of Einsteinian physics is widely recognised. While the ability of students to comprehend qualitative Einsteinian concepts has been demonstrated, little information exists to determine the best student age and the duration of instruction required for introducing Einsteinian physics concepts. Here, we compare 1-day excursion-based interventions with longer 10- and 20-lesson interventions spread over 3 and 10 weeks, respectively. The programmes covered similar materials with quantitative evaluations for students in year 7 and 9 (13-15 years old). While short-duration interventions are shown to be adequate for introducing core concepts, the longer-duration interventions led to significantly improved uptake of derived concepts. Differences in uptake according to academic talent and gender were observed, particularly for derived concepts. The students tested had generally positive attitudes to science, which changed little during the interventions. The results provide valuable information for introducing Einsteinian physics at schools. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2022 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: EJ1327474 |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1007/s11165-020-09944-8 Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 20 StartPage: 305 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Comparative Analysis Type: general – SubjectFull: Program Length Type: general – SubjectFull: Physics Type: general – SubjectFull: Intervention Type: general – SubjectFull: Middle School Students Type: general – SubjectFull: Science Education Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: A Comparison of Short and Long Einsteinian Physics Intervention Programmes in Middle School Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Choudhary, Rahul – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Foppoli, Alexander – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Kaur, Tejinder – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Blair, David – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Burman, Ron – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Zadnik, Marjan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 02 Type: published Y: 2022 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 0157-244X Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 52 – Type: issue Value: 1 Titles: – TitleFull: Research in Science Education Type: main |
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