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Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Research
written by Sam B. McKagan, Katherine Perkins, and Carl E. Wieman
We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in four traditional and four transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research, students still struggle with many of the same issues found in other courses. However, the reasons for these difficulties are more subtle, and many new issues are brought to the surface. By explicitly addressing how to build models of wave functions and energy and how to relate these models to real physical systems, we have opened up a floodgate of deep and difficult questions as students struggle to make sense of these models. We conclude that the difficulties found in previous research are the tip of the iceberg, and the real issue at the heart of student difficulties in learning quantum tunneling is the struggle to build the complex models that are implicit in experts' understanding but often not explicitly addressed in instruction.
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education - Applied Research
- Pedagogy
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Upper Undergraduate
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Format:
application/pdf
Access Rights:
Free access
Restriction:
© 2008 The American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.50.ht
03.65.Xp
Keywords:
model building, quantum mechanics, reformed course
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created February 16, 2010 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
March 11, 2010 by Vince Kuo
Last Update
when Cataloged:
October 8, 2008
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Record Link
AIP Format
S. McKagan, K. Perkins, and C. Wieman, , Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4 (2), 020103 (2008), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103).
AJP/PRST-PER
S. McKagan, K. Perkins, and C. Wieman, Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4 (2), 020103 (2008), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103>.
APA Format
McKagan, S., Perkins, K., & Wieman, C. (2008, October 8). Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling. Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res., 4(2), 020103. Retrieved October 13, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103
Chicago Format
McKagan, S, K. Perkins, and C. Wieman. "Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4, no. 2, (October 8, 2008): 020103, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103 (accessed 13 October 2024).
MLA Format
McKagan, Sam, Katherine Perkins, and Carl Wieman. "Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling." Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 4.2 (2008): 020103. 13 Oct. 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Sam McKagan and Katherine Perkins and Carl Wieman", Title = {Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {4}, Number = {2}, Pages = {020103}, Month = {October}, Year = {2008} }
Refer Export Format

%A Sam McKagan %A Katherine Perkins %A Carl Wieman %T Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 4 %N 2 %D October 8, 2008 %P 020103 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A McKagan, Sam %A Perkins, Katherine %A Wieman, Carl %D October 8, 2008 %T Deeper look at student learning of quantum mechanics: The case of tunneling %J Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. %V 4 %N 2 %P 020103 %8 October 8, 2008 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.4.020103


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