• Open Access

Quantum interactive learning tutorial on the double-slit experiment to improve student understanding of quantum mechanics

Ryan Sayer, Alexandru Maries, and Chandralekha Singh
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 13, 010123 – Published 11 May 2017

Abstract

Learning quantum mechanics is challenging, even for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. Research-validated interactive tutorials that build on students’ prior knowledge can be useful tools to enhance student learning. We have been investigating student difficulties with quantum mechanics pertaining to the double-slit experiment in various situations that appear to be counterintuitive and contradict classical notions of particles and waves. For example, if we send single electrons through the slits, they may behave as a “wave” in part of the experiment and as a “particle” in another part of the same experiment. Here we discuss the development and evaluation of a research-validated Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT) which makes use of an interactive simulation to improve student understanding of the double-slit experiment and strives to help students develop a good grasp of foundational issues in quantum mechanics. We discuss common student difficulties identified during the development and evaluation of the QuILT and analyze the data from the pretest and post test administered to the upper-level undergraduate and first-year physics graduate students before and after they worked on the QuILT to assess its effectiveness. These data suggest that on average, the QuILT was effective in helping students develop a more robust understanding of foundational concepts in quantum mechanics that defy classical intuition using the context of the double-slit experiment. Moreover, upper-level undergraduates outperformed physics graduate students on the post test. One possible reason for this difference in performance may be the level of student engagement with the QuILT due to the grade incentive. In the undergraduate course, the post test was graded for correctness while in the graduate course, it was only graded for completeness.

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  • Received 4 June 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.13.010123

Published by the American Physical Society 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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics Education Research

Authors & Affiliations

Ryan Sayer1, Alexandru Maries2, and Chandralekha Singh3

  • 1Department of Physics, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota 56601, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA

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Vol. 13, Iss. 1 — January - June 2017

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