Objects to Learn about and Objects for Learning 1

5Professional Testimony: Construction and Analysis of a “Graphic Object” in a Physics Class in a 12th Grade Science Major

5.1. Introduction

Implementing old physics syllabuses in a 12th grade science major in 2012 introduced elements of knowledge derived from the theory of special relativity. The concepts of events, of the invariance of the speed of light when changing the Galilean frame of reference and of the relative nature of time (through the introduction of proper time and time dilation) were to be covered by the teachers. Studies have shown that, in the context of relativistic situations, mastery of these concepts is far from effective even after a university course in physics. Scherr et al. (2001) have shown that pupils tend to believe that two observers, positioned in the same place, constitute one and the same reference frame even if they are moving in relation to one another. Likewise, in their opinion, two observers not moving in relation to each other, in two different places, constitute two independent frames of reference. De Hosson et al. (2010) likewise showed the same sort of difficulty with trainee physics teachers, this time by studying how the concept of an event is mobilized. From this observation, one way of giving more meaning to the concepts used in special relativity could be to mobilize them within the framework of graphic or diagrammatic spaces, for a number of reasons:

• – first of all, the work of Walter (1996) illustrates, through a description ...