Towards a better understanding of conceptual difficulties in introductory quantum physics courses

Abstract

Research on teaching and learning quantum physics (QP) frequently explores students' conceptual difficulties to identify common patterns in their reasoning. The abstractness of QP is often found to be at the origin of students' conceptual difficulties. Due to this abstract nature students resort to common sense reasoning or classical thinking when they make meaning of QP phenomena. In this literature review, the 'abstractness' is closely investigated and nuanced to uncover what reasons for the abstractness students experience. Four reasons for students' conceptual difficulties can be categorised under the abstract nature of QP. These reasons are that students struggle a) to relate the mathematical formalism of QP to experiences in the physical world; b) to interpret counterintuitive QP phenomena and concepts; c) to transit from a deterministic to a probabilistic worldview; and d) to understand the limitations of language to express quantum phenomena, concepts, and objects. Combining these four reasons allows us to better understand the origin of conceptual difficulties in QP and why these difficulties persist over time. The implications of these findings for research and teaching practice are discussed.

Secondary and University Students’ Descriptions of Quantum Uncertainty and the Wave Nature of Quantum Particles

“…At the same time, quantum physics can be challenging for both teachers and students. A recent review by Bouchée et al (2021) identified four reasons for students' conceptual difficulties in quantum physics. These are struggles (a) to relate the mathematical formalism to experiences in the physical world; (b) to interpret counter-intuitive phenomena and concepts; (c) to transit from a deterministic to a probabilistic world view; and (d) to understand the limitations of language to express quantum phenomena, concepts, and objects.…”

“…It is thus important to develop and evaluate teaching strategies that help students overcome the challenges above and develop quantum understanding. Although these issues have been discussed in physics education research for more than 20 years (see, e.g., Zollman, 1999), they are still prevalent (Bungum et al, 2018;Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al, 2017;Bouchée et al, 2021). Among challenging topics in quantum physics is wave-particle duality, identified as a key topic by experts in a Delphi study by Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al (2019).…”

“…Therefore, we use "particle wave nature" instead of the more commonly used "the wave nature of matter" or "the wave nature of quantum objects" in this study. We are, however, aware that "particle" is an ambiguous term with many meanings in science, even within physics, and that this poses challenges to teaching and learning (Bouchée et al, 2021;Bunge, 2003).…”

“…The above highlights the importance of research into teaching strategies to improve students' conceptual understanding of the quantum world at upper secondary level, and indeed this is a very active field of research. Comprehensive overviews can be found in review articles by Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al (2017) and Bouchée et al (2021). Their papers review a large body of literature concerning both the learning difficulties encountered, tools to analyze students' conceptual understanding, teaching strategies that have been implemented, and ways forward for research in the field.…”

“…Generally speaking, misplaced classical thinking and confusion due to literal interpretation of classical metaphors (Brookes & Etkina, 2007;McKagan et al, 2008) seem to be rather common, e.g., in the way students think about the wave function (Özcan, 2011). In response to these challenges, a lot of interesting work has been done on development of teaching strategies with focus on conceptual understanding of quantum physics (Bouchée et al, 2021;Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al, 2017). Still, more research is needed, both on student conceptions themselves and on teaching strategies, to promote conceptual understanding in particular and learning in quantum physics in general.…”