A case for conceptual approaches in general relativity education

What is the value of conceptual approaches in general relativity education? In my latest opinion piece in the Astronomy Education Journal, I argue that we need to give students more opportunities to reason qualitatively and probe their physical intuition. In doing so, I draw on my research and historical case studies to illustrate the importance of qualitative reasoning in general relativity.

Discussions about the challengesand opportunities of different instructional approaches are meaningful because they help our community betterunderstand why and how we should teach general relativity. As such, this opinion piece contributes to our joint efforts to improve thequality of general relativity education at the secondary school level and beyond.