Undergraduate quantum mechanics: lost opportunities for engaging motivated students?

• Published in: European journal of physics Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 25705 - 25718
• Main Author: Johansson, Anders
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.03.2018
• Subjects: Fysik med inriktning mot fysikens didaktik; identity; physics education; Physics with specialization in Physics Education; quantum mechanics; sociocultural issues
• ISSN: 0143-0807; 1361-6404; 1361-6404
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6404/aa9b42

Quantum mechanics is widely recognised as an important and difficult subject, and many studies have been published focusing on students' conceptual difficulties. However, the sociocultural aspects of studying such an emblematic subject have not been researched to any large extent. This study explores students' experiences of undergraduate quantum mechanics using qualitative analysis of semi-structured interview data. The results inform discussions about the teaching of quantum mechanics by adding a sociocultural dimension. Students pictured quantum mechanics as an intriguing subject that inspired them to study physics. The study environment they encountered when taking their first quantum mechanics course was however not always as inspiring as expected. Quantum mechanics instruction has commonly focused on the mathematical framework of quantum mechanics, and this kind of teaching was also what the interviewees had experienced. Two ways of handling the encounter with a traditional quantum mechanics course were identified in the interviews; either students accept the practice of studying quantum mechanics in a mathematical, exercise-centred way or they distance themselves from these practices and the subject. The students who responded by distancing themselves experienced a crisis and disappointment, where their experiences did not match the way they imagined themselves engaging with quantum mechanics. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to efforts to reform the teaching of undergraduate quantum mechanics.