Research in physics education has revealed that students often have incomplete and incoherent ways to use the concept of photon. Most researchers in science education recommend photons to be taken in a realistic sense as existing entities of quantum objects. Furthermore, in science education literature it is often claimed that realistic stance to photons also is preferred by physicists. Taken that photons in quantum theory of light invariably refer to quantized degrees of the freedom of an electromagnetic field it is questionable how one should introduce photons as entities without inadvertently supporting naïve particle-realism about photons, a well-known situation in introductory teaching of quantum theory of light. Fewer researchers suggest that photons should be understood as photon states, quantized degrees of freedom of electromagnetic field, as in contemporary quantum optics and quantum theory of light. Here, by using a questionnaire (a Likert-scale survey), we explore pre-service physics teachers’ preferences to use expressions that can be associated with either quanton or photon state views about photons in context of single-photon double-slit experiment. The questionnaire is administered in two stages (in the beginning and after a teaching sequence) during a pre-service physics teachers’ course addressing quantum optics and technology. Based on the analysis of the responses, we find that at the beginning of the course, the responses are scattered but in the final survey, clusters corresponding to use of photon state-based expressions become more consistent.
Research in physics education has revealed that students often have incomplete and incoherent ways to use the concept of photon. Most researchers in science education recommend photons to be taken in a realistic sense as existing entities of quantum objects. Furthermore, in science education literature it is often claimed that realistic stance to photons also is preferred by physicists. Taken that photons in quantum theory of light invariably refer to quantized degrees of the freedom of an electromagnetic field it is questionable how one should introduce photons as entities without inadvertently supporting naïve particle-realism about photons, a well-known situation in introductory teaching of quantum theory of light. Fewer researchers suggest that photons should be understood as photon states, quantized degrees of freedom of electromagnetic field, as in contemporary quantum optics and quantum theory of light. Here, by using a questionnaire (a Likert-scale survey), we explore pre-service physics teachers’ preferences to use expressions that can be associated with either quanton or photon state views about photons in context of single-photon double-slit experiment. The questionnaire is administered in two stages (in the beginning and after a teaching sequence) during a pre-service physics teachers’ course addressing quantum optics and technology. Based on the analysis of the responses, we find that at the beginning of the course, the responses are scattered but in the final survey, clusters corresponding to use of photon state-based expressions become more consistent.
Abstract Physics education research has revealed that students have multiple ways of understanding the concept of the photon and that students’ use of it is often incoherent and incomplete. In this study, we explore what kinds of statements pre-service physics teachers and university physics students choose on a multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to reveal students’ stances on three conceptual views of the photon (quantum state, quantum realistic, and naïve dualistic) in the context of quantum optical experiments. The questionnaire was conducted in a pre-post manner. The test group (pre-service physics teachers N = 13) attended an introductory quantum physics course which emphasised coherent use of natural language, and the control group (university physics students pre N = 33, post N = 25) attended a standard introductory course in quantum physics. Pre-test results show that both groups expressed incoherent use of the concept of the photon. The post-test results reveal that after teaching intervention, the test group showed significant improvement in the coherent use of the concept of the photon as a quantum state. The post-test results of the control group remained incoherent. The results show that paying attention to the coherent use of natural language in teaching quantum physics helps pre-service physics teachers to recognise and choose coherent expressions about the photon.
Wave-particle duality (WPD) of photons is a recurrent topic in science education research in teaching and learning the quantum behaviour of light. In this commentary, we discuss how WPD has been approached in science teaching and science education literature, and how it leads to ontological challenges in searching for the real “nature of photons”. We suggest that WPD can serve as a starting point of teaching quantum physics if we want to use natural language in discussing experimental results (as Bohr intended it to be). That way WPD can also be approached as part of modern quantum optics as a natural language expression to communicate information acquired in experiments. Such an ap-proach includes a contemporary understanding of quantitative WPD as a means to speak about features of photons as quantum states, not as entity-like objects. Content is discussed at a level appropriate for physics teacher education.
I propose a conceptual change in the way we teach nonrelativistic quantum physics in introductory survey courses and general modern physics courses. Traditional instruction treats radiation as a quantized electromagnetic wave that, because it is quantized, is observable only as discrete field quanta, while treating matter as particles that are accompanied by a wave function. In other words, traditional instruction views radiation as fundamentally a field phenomenon, and matter as fundamentally a particle phenomenon. But quantum field theory has a more unified view, according to which both radiation and matter are continuous fields while both photons and material particles are quanta of these fields. The quantum field theory view of radiation and matter clarifies particle identity issues, dispels students’ Newtonian misconceptions about matter, arguably resolves the wave-particle paradox, is the accepted view of contemporary physics, and might be the simplest and most effective teaching approach for all students. I propose that we make this field-theory viewpoint the conceptual basis for teaching non-relativistic quantum physics.
Just as expert physicists vary in their personal stances on interpretation in quantum mechanics, instructors hold different views on teaching interpretations of quantum phenomena in introductory modern physics courses. There has been relatively little research in the physics education community on the variation in instructional approaches with respect to quantum interpretation, and how instructional choices impact student thinking. We compare two modern physics courses taught at the University of Colorado with similar learning environments, but where the instructors held different views on how to teach students about interpretations of quantum processes. We find significant differences in how students from these two courses responded to a survey on their beliefs about quantum mechanics; findings also suggest that instructors who choose to address student ontologies should do so across a range of topics.
Abstract Quantum entanglement is a challenging concept within the field of physics education, often eluding a full grasp by both educators and learners alike. In this paper, we report findings from a two-phase empirical study into the views of entanglement held by pre-service physics teachers and physics students from various universities. In the first phase, we utilized a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions which was completed by 31 pre-service physics teachers. The study participants’ ideas were explored using qualitative content analysis which led to the creation of rating scale items used in study phase 2. These items were administered to a broader cohort including 73 physics university students in order to capture the learners’ agreement or disagreement with the questionnaire statements, and hence, helped to validate and substantiate the in-depth insights from study phase 1. Key findings revealed widespread accurate notions, like the need to consider the entire system when examining entangled states. However, less elaborated views were also identified, including ideas such as that measurements of entangled states always show perfect (anti-)correlation. Another striking observation was the confusion between quantum entanglement and superposition. In the case of quantum teleportation, many participants seemed to have a basic grasp of the concept, although a number of misconceptions were apparent, notably the idea that quantum entanglement enables faster-than-light communication. Practically, the findings can assist educators in anticipating and addressing widespread (mis-)conceptions, paving the way for more effective instruction in quantum mechanics and its real-world applications, such as quantum cryptography and computing.
[This paper is part of the Focused Collection in Investigating and Improving Quantum Education through Research.] The teaching and learning of quantum physics has recently become a topic of increasing interest in physics education research. In particular, the study of two-state systems is gaining importance as a means of teaching quantum physics at various educational levels. Meanwhile, a number of approaches have been developed that are also suitable for high school students. It can be assumed that the different approaches have different degrees of effectiveness in teaching central quantum concepts. However, suitable evaluation instruments to test this are still lacking. Therefore, as a first step, a short questionnaire on quantum measurement, suitable for both research and classroom use, was developed in several steps. First, a questionnaire with open and closed items was created and piloted with a total of N = 120 learners. The responses were evaluated qualitatively using a comprehensive coding manual, which provided insights into learners’ conceptions. These results led to the development of an eight-item questionnaire that could be adapted to different teaching approaches. This questionnaire was subjected to expert review and, finally, successfully tested for its psychometric properties with a sample of N = 201 learners. Overall, our results provide initial empirical evidence that context (i.e., which two-state approach is used) does matter for student learning, but in general, two-state approaches appear to be particularly conducive to learning quantum concepts (specified in this article for quantum measurement) compared to traditional instruction. Published by the American Physical Society 2024