Abstract

This study validates the use of the didactic story as an innovative strategy in the teaching of the experimental background of the Special Theory of Relativity, under a competency-based approach. Based on interviews with higher education teachers, difficulties were identified in the teaching of these concepts, such as their complexity, abstraction and time limitation for their development. To address these problems, the story A Road to Relativity was designed and applied to 16 fourth-year Physics-Mathematics students at UNAN-Managua/CUR-Estelí. The research, with a mixed approach and descriptive study, used surveys, interviews and an evaluation rubric to analyze the impact of the story on learning. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test, with a significance value greater than 0.05, allowed accepting the alternative hypothesis and rejecting the null hypothesis, showing that the use of stories facilitates the understanding of complex concepts, promotes meaningful learning and improves student motivation and participation. It is concluded that the didactic narrative represents an effective tool to strengthen the teaching of relativity and can be adapted to other scientific contents.

Keywords:
Didactic storytelling; competency-based approach; teaching; learning; relativity