Possibilities of the practice-oriented approach to the organization of seminars on the Special theory of relativity

Abstract

The presented work is devoted to practical orientation of seminars on the topic «Special theory of relativity». Modern trends in the orientation of higher education for practical needs, with which future specialists — graduates of higher education institutions will deal — dictate new requirements for the organization of the educational process. Satisfaction of these requirements encounters serious difficulties when it comes to the highly abstracted disciplines of the university course in theoretical physics. In particular, the discipline «Electrodynamics», the study of which is inseparable from the study of the Special Theory of Relativity, is a vivid example of such a situation. Nevertheless, on the basis of the huge existing educational material on this discipline, it is possible to make a selection of tasks and tasks that will be directed towards the formation of practice-oriented thinking among students. All practical-meaningful tasks we conditionally divide into three types: paradoxical or fantastic, problems on the physics of elementary particles of high energies and problems that determine the properties of the electromagnetic field and radiation. Thus, in the process of teaching, interdisciplinary connections are established (with radiophysics, nuclear physics, astrophysics and cosmology), and students understand the practical importance of the material being studied.