Abstract:

Although more than 100 years have passed since Einstein improved our view of gravity by introducing the General Theory of Relativity (GR), Newtonian theory is often the only theory about gravity introduced in schools. In this way, multiple consequences affects our students. First of all, they are not able to explain some of the phenomena that make the headlines today (black holes, gravitational waves, gravitational lensing). Moreover, limiting ourselves to dealing exclusively with Newton's gravity at the school level leaves students with only an ancient idea of one of the four fundamental interactions of physics.

Nonetheless, although GR requires a very advanced mathematical formalism, its underlying ideas are very simple and can be easily brought into the classroom. In a sense, these ideas are even more intuitive than those of the Newtonian explanation! Moreover, the Einsteinain approach is even more valuable when accompanied by experiential activities. In this regard, we are working on a educational proposal in Italy that uses the rubber sheet analogy to experience gravity in the classroom in a modern way.

In this talk we will discuss the state of the art of the project, the Open Access ebook "Experience gravity with the rubber sheet: guidelines and tricks" we developed and the initiatives we are proposing to schools.

Keywords:

Education, lab, experimental activities, physics experiments, gravity.