A new teaching-learning sequence to promote secondary school students' learning of quantum physics using Dirac notation
Bitzenbauer P, Hennig F, Förster M, Tóth K (2024)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2024
Journal
Book Volume: 59
Article Number: 045007
Journal Issue: 4
Open Access Link: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/ad353d
Abstract
This paper describes the design of a new teaching-learning sequence on quantum physics aimed at upper secondary school students. In this teaching-learning sequence, GeoGebra simulations and interactive screen experiments are used to investigate the behaviour of a single photon at beam splitter and single photon interference in a Michelson interferometer. We propose a minimal formalism using Dirac notation, which avoids complex numbers and elaborate vector calculus, to make a quantitative description of the quantum optics experiments accessible to secondary school students. With this new educational pathway, we take into account findings from physics education research, which suggest that the introduction of a mathematical formalism tailored to students' abilities might help them to overcome naive-realist views of quanta or space-time descriptions of quantum phenomena, while at the same time facilitating a transition to a functional understanding of quantum models.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
Eötvös Loránd University / Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem (ELTE)
Hungary (HU)
Universität Leipzig
Germany (DE)
Hungary (HU)
Universität Leipzig
Germany (DE)
How to cite
APA:
Bitzenbauer, P., Hennig, F., Förster, M., & Tóth, K. (2024). A new teaching-learning sequence to promote secondary school students' learning of quantum physics using Dirac notation. Physics Education, 59(4). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/ad353d
MLA:
Bitzenbauer, Philipp, et al. "A new teaching-learning sequence to promote secondary school students' learning of quantum physics using Dirac notation." Physics Education 59.4 (2024).
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