Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling

dc.creator	S. B. McKagan
dc.creator	K. K. Perkins
dc.creator	C. E. Wieman
dc.date	2008-10-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-07-20T22:10:03Z
dc.date.available	2015-07-20T22:10:03Z
dc.identifier	1554-9178
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/e6fb0e23fe744cc7a46ec2c80fc2afe6
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/13339
dc.description	We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in four traditional and four transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research, students still struggle with many of the same issues found in other courses. However, the reasons for these difficulties are more subtle, and many new issues are brought to the surface. By explicitly addressing how to build models of wave functions and energy and how to relate these models to real physical systems, we have opened up a floodgate of deep and difficult questions as students struggle to make sense of these models. We conclude that the difficulties found in previous research are the tip of the iceberg, and the real issue at the heart of student difficulties in learning quantum tunneling is the struggle to build the complex models that are implicit in experts’ understanding but often not explicitly addressed in instruction.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	American Physical Society, APS
dc.relation	http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1554-9178
dc.source	Physical Review Special Topics. Physics Education Research, Vol 4, Iss 2 (2008)
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling
dc.type	article