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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Chris D. Porter and Andrew F. Heckler
Quantum mechanics is a notoriously counterintuitive subject within physics and has been the subject of a number of studies at the undergraduate level, and a few pioneering studies at the graduate level. The sketching of wave functions in a confining well is in one sense one of the most basic activities in quantum mechanics. But in another sense, it may be viewed as a rather advanced skill, as it requires the coherent inclusion of a number of details of the wave function, such as wavelength, probability amplitude, and boundary conditions, among others. Although sketching a wave function is not a common activity at the graduate level, a great deal of graduate work is concerned with the aforementioned details, especially boundary conditions. Whether it is seen as a basic skill, or as linked to higher-level understanding, sketching a wave function is an ability that physics graduate students should have. Here, we report on graduate students' ability to sketch wave functions in an asymmetric potential well. We find that the frequency of many errors is not significantly reduced from pretest to posttest, meaning that many errors persist through to the end of graduate quantum mechanics instruction. We find that only 5% of graduate students tested can sketch the 2nd excited state wave function without errors. We include quantitative and diagrammatic descriptions of student errors covering a broader range of misunderstandings than has previously been identified, and we include interview information that speaks to the persistence of some of the errors.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 15, Issue 1, Pages 010139
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Basic Research
- Assessment
= Longitudinal
- Research Design & Methodology
= Data
= Statistics
- Student Characteristics
= Ability
= Skills
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
Quantum Physics
- Bound State Systems
- Foundations and Measurements
= Wave Functions
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
PER-Central Type Intended Users Ratings
- PER Literature
- Educators
- Professional/Practitioners
- Researchers
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Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139
NSF Number:
NRT-IGE-1735027
Keywords:
asymmetrical potential well, sketching wave function, wave function representation
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created August 23, 2019 by Sam McKagan
Record Updated:
February 22, 2023 by Caroline Hall
Last Update
when Cataloged:
June 11, 2019
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Record Link
AIP Format
C. Porter and A. Heckler, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15 (1), 010139 (2019), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139).
AJP/PRST-PER
C. Porter and A. Heckler, Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15 (1), 010139 (2019), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139>.
APA Format
Porter, C., & Heckler, A. (2019, June 11). Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 15(1), 010139. Retrieved May 15, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139
Chicago Format
Porter, Chris D., and Andrew F. Heckler. "Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15, no. 1, (June 11, 2019): 010139, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139 (accessed 15 May 2026).
MLA Format
Porter, Chris D., and Andrew F. Heckler. "Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 15.1 (2019): 010139. 15 May 2026 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Chris D. Porter and Andrew F. Heckler", Title = {Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {15}, Number = {1}, Pages = {010139}, Month = {June}, Year = {2019} }
Refer Export Format

%A Chris D. Porter %A Andrew F. Heckler %T Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 15 %N 1 %D June 11, 2019 %P 010139 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Porter, Chris D. %A Heckler, Andrew F. %D June 11, 2019 %T Graduate student misunderstandings of wave functions in an asymmetric well %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 15 %N 1 %P 010139 %8 June 11, 2019 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.15.010139


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