A study on the perception of the gifted students about the aesthetic features of physics experiments

Aesthetic criteria have played important roles in scientific achievements throughout the history of physics. Moreover, taking into account the beautiful aspects in science is helpful for understanding physical concepts and ideas. Thus, this study aimed at examining the perceptions of gifted students about the aesthetic features of physics experiments. The researchers dealt with 99 students enrolled in a class involving physics experiments at a gifted science high school in a metropolitan area. The students were asked to complete an open-ended questionnaire about their perceptions of the aesthetics of physics experiments. The results show that most students regarded physics experiments as beautiful and that their perceptions about the aesthetic features of the experiments could be grouped into four categories. Specifically, they were aware of the beauty when the experiments showed the theory to be consistent with the deserved phenomenon, when experiments reveal nature; when experimental methods were creative or simple and when experiments were useful. They thought that Millikan's oil drop experiment, the measurement of specific charge experiment, and the interference and diffraction experiment were the most beautiful experiments during the course.