ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on research activities that aimed to develop and evaluate curriculum materials to teach general relativity to upper secondary students in the Netherlands. It is intended for readers who are interested in curriculum design and development in Einsteinian physics, and also, for those who wish to teach general relativity at the upper secondary school level. In practice, however, general relativity is still not being taught at secondary schools in the Netherlands. The chapter reports on how they designed the materials and how didactic experts (teachers and teacher educators) and students responded to it. The materials are referred to as a study module on general relativity. The didactic knowledge experts agreed that it should be possible to teach general relativity to upper secondary students in the Netherlands if performed in an age-appropriate manner. Hence, the lesson (series) on general relativity should be connected to recent scientific developments, practical applications, the mandatory curriculum, and students' prior knowledge.
