Close Encounters with Heisenberg: uncertainty in secondary school

Abstract

In this paper we present a pedagogical strategy to introduce the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to high school students. The basis on which this proposal relies is the Fourier transform, connecting the quantum function in the x domain, Ψ(x), with the function in the wave number domain, A(k). This mathematical relationship directly leads to the uncertainty principle: a state localized in the former domain will present an inversely proportional dispersion in the latter domain. Since in acoustic we have an analog situation we can carry out experiments with sounds leading students to the understanding of the uncertainty relation. In our approach a slightly modified musical theme from the Steven Spielberg movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' is the starting point to reach the uncertainty relation.

Quantum physics from waves: An analogy-based approach for high school

“…or sum of waves. For the first, we have already outlined a proposal that allows addressing the connection between dispersions in position and momentum in quantum systems in a way analogous to the dispersions in sound intensity distributions when represented as a function of frequency and time [7].…”

Can a one-day event trigger interest in quantum physics at the university level?

“…Research has helped to develop teaching approaches to overcome conceptual difficulties [26,[28][29][30][31]59], advance assessment methods [60,61], improve teaching and learning [62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70], and to create education programs that help in raising a new generation of quantum experts [8,24,[71][72][73][74][75]. In addition to quantum physics education of physics and non-physics university majors [76,77], studies have investigated quantum physics education at secondary schools [78][79][80][81][82][83][84], quantum outreach for general public [85,86], and informal education up to university level [86][87][88][89], with which our one-day event is similar to.…”