Teaching Collisions - Methodological Suggestions

摘要

This paper suggests some changes in the content and methodology of teaching collisions. It is stimulated by the research in the related area and authors' teaching experience. The traditional approach of teaching collisions in the introductory university physics course does not reveal enough the nature of phenomenon and thus limits the functional understanding of students. Authors propose to implement center of mass frame of reference and coefficient of restitution in the treatment of collisions. The presented methodological approach aims to clarify the physics of the phenomenon and to make it more comprehensible.