A correlation of thin lens approximation to thick lens design by using context based method in optics education

The effect of Coddington factors on aberration functions has been analysed using thin lens approximation with optical glass parameters. The dependence of spherical aberration on Coddington shape factor for the various optical glasses in real lens design was discussed using exact ray tracing for the optics education and training purposes. Thin lens approximation and thick lens design are generally taught with only lecturing method. But, thick lens design is closely related to the real life. Hence, it is more appropriate to teach thin lens approximation and thick lens design with real-life context based approach. Context based teaching can be effective in solving problems in which the subject is very difficult and irrelevant. It also provides extensive evidence for optics education that students are generally unable to correctly apply the concepts of lens design to optical instruments currently used. Therefore, the outline of real-life context based thick lens design lessons were proposed and explained in detail considering thin lens approximation.