Instruments in Research Experiments and Their Educational Representatives

Several experiments from the history of physics were adapted for teaching purposes – most of them originate from the long nineteenth century. These references to historical experiments can be found both in school teaching as well as in university lectures. Most of these experiments were introduced through discussing them and pointing out the relevance of their conceptual outcomes. Others, and these are in the focus of this presentation, were represented by instruments that were (and in some cases still are) demonstrated in the lecture. Obviously, these instruments that were demonstrated were neither the original research instruments, nor exact copies of them. Instead, these devices were educational versions of the instruments used in the historical experiments. Consequently, these didactical devices had communalities, but also discrepancies with the historical research instruments. In my contribution, I will particularly discuss two types of teaching devices: one group consists of teaching devices that address the procedural aspect of the historical experiment; the other group addresses the product (the data or the content) of the historical experiment. From this comparison, a more thorough understanding of what was to be represented and taught with these devices can be derived. In my analysis, I will mainly address teaching demonstrations from the early 20th century, but also take a look at recent demonstrations.