PERC 2025 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Amplifying Physics Students' Voices: How Learners Approach Wonky and Unknowable Quantum Mechanics |
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| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
| Abstract: | Scholarship on Quantum Mechanics (QM) in physics education research (PER) tends to persist in examining learners' reasoning from a deficit perspective. Although there is a common understanding that QM is challenging, with students describing it as "wonky," "bizarre," or "weird," much of the deficit literature examines learners' difficulties by documenting incorrect strategies students take. Drawing on resource theory and epistemological approaches, the current study aims to amplify students' voices, not through judgment or a deficit lens, but rather by foregrounding how they articulate QM and what strategies they find meaningful. Coding open-ended interviews with undergraduate quantum physics learners identified three approaches to navigating QM's wonky nature: reasoning across scale boundaries, relying on mathematics, and drawing on classical knowledge. Furthermore, in the relevant literature, reasoning across scale boundaries has been overlooked as an approach to QM, thereby highlighting a new quantum learning opportunity. |
| Session Time: | Poster Session A |
| Poster Number: | A-116 |
| Contributed Paper Record: | Contributed Paper Information |
| Contributed Paper Download: | Download Contributed Paper |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Marc L. Whiting Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah SLC, UT 84058 Phone: 8016368262 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Lauren Barth-Cohen, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah Adrian L. Adams, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah Jordan Gerton, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah David Stroupe, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Utah |
Contributed Poster | |
| Contributed Poster: | Download the Contributed Poster |
