PERC 2015 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | “Classical-ish”: Negotiating the Boundary between Classical and Quantum Particles |
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| Abstract: | Developing physical intuition about quantum mechanics can seem like a departure from our everyday experience of the physical world, but we build new ideas from our existing ones. We examine video data from a focus group doing a tutorial about the "particle in a box." In reasoning about the properties of a quantum particle, the students bring in elements of a classical particle ontology, which are evident not only through the students' language but through their use of gestures. This is modulated by metacognitive moments in which the group explicitly takes up questions of whether classical intuitions are valid for the quantum system. Through this reflection, the students find some cases in which classical ideas can be usefully applied to quantum physics, and others in which they directly contrast classical and quantum mechanics. Negotiating this boundary is part of the process of building quantum intuitions. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Benjamin W. Dreyfus University of Maryland, College Park Department of Physics College Park, MD 20742 Phone: 917-821-2405 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Erin Ronayne Sohr, University of Maryland, College Park Ayush Gupta, University of Maryland, College Park Andrew Elby, University of Maryland, College Park |
Contributed Poster | |
| Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |
