Teaching and understanding of quantum interpretations in modern physics courses
Abstract
Just as expert physicists vary in their personal stances on interpretation in quantum mechanics, instructors vary on whether and how to teach interpretations of quantum phenomena in introductory modern physics courses. In this paper, we document variations in instructional approaches with respect to interpretation in two similar modern physics courses recently taught at the University of Colorado, and examine associated impacts on student perspectives regarding quantum physics. We find students are more likely to prefer realist interpretations of quantum-mechanical systems when instructors are less explicit in addressing student ontologies. We also observe contextual variations in student beliefs about quantum systems, indicating that instructors who choose to address questions of ontology in quantum mechanics should do so explicitly across a range of topics.
Citation
Baily , C & Finkelstein , N D 2010 , ' Teaching and understanding of quantum interpretations in modern physics courses ' , Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research , vol. 6 , no. 1 , 010101 . https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.6.010101
Publication
Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1554-9178Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2010 The American Physical Society. The published version of this article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
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