Quantum mechanics is one of the central pillars of modern physics. However, for a variety of reasons - conceptual, mathematical, and philosophical - many students struggle to master this topic at the undergraduate level. In this talk, I will describe several ongoing projects at McMaster related to quantum physics education. I will present the preliminary results from our Upper Year Quantum...
In honour of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), I will review the physics education research (PER) on learning quantum mechanics, with a focus on introductory courses. This brief overview will include examples of common conceptual difficulties with quantum physics and strategies to guide students to overcome them to generate robust mental models.
Introductory Quantum Mechanics has traditionally been taught in Modern Physics courses, starting with the wave formalism. This approach requires students to learn new physics content, which is quite abstract and sometimes counterintuitive, while applying mathematical techniques most of them have not mastered yet. To avoid this unnecessary complication, we have redesigned our introductory...
Physics Education Research (PER) requires data collection from systems that are usually not confined to a lab - humans. A conference is a unique opportunity to question not only individual physicists, but to initiate and observe interactions. In this experiment, we will prepare our systems (the audience) with a brief introduction on known misconceptions in quantum mechanics. Then, we will...
