We are developing and assessing Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorials (QuILT) for the advanced undergraduate courses. We are also developing and assessing resource material for Peer Instruction in Quantum Mechanics for undergraduate courses. The resource material includes the "Concept Tests" for assessment with continuous feedback to the students, standardized assessment tools, reflective questions and the material for Just-In-Time Teaching (JITT) for quantum mechanics courses.
The following features of these materials make them particularly suited for the challenging task of teaching quantum physics:
They are based upon research in physics education and pay particular attention to cognitive issues.
They employ visualization tools to help students build physical intuition about quantum processes.
They consistently keep students actively engaged in the learning process by asking them to predict what should happen in a particular situation and then providing appropriate feedback.
They attempt to bridge the gap between the abstract quantitative formalism of quantum mechanics and the qualitative understanding necessary to explain and predict diverse physical phenomena without dumbing down the content.
They are based on systematic investigations of difficulties students have in learning various concepts in quantum physics.
The peer-instruction tools give students an opportunity to reflect upon their own learning and take advantage of both their own strengths and those of their peers. The QuILTs have additional features as:
The QuILTs can be used in class by the instructors once or twice a week as supplements to lectures or outside of the class as homework or as self-study tool by students.
The QuILTs consist of self-sufficient modular units that can be used in any order that is convenient.
Some QuILT modules expose students to contemporary and exciting topics such as quantum teleportation that can be taught using simple two-level systems.
The tutorial development goes through a cyclical iterative process that includes research on student difficulties in learning a particular physics concept, followed by the development, evaluation and refinement of the material. We are currently beta-testing several QuILT modules. If you are teaching quantum mechanics and would like to implement the modules in your class and provide us feedback, please send an email to clsingh@pitt.edu
A majority of the computer-based visualization tools for this project are being developed by M. Belloni and W. Christian at Davidson College under the Open Source Physics (OSP) project (see http://www.opensourcephysics.org/projects/packages/index.html)
The developed QuILTs can be downloaded here.
The resource material for Peer Instruction in Quantum Mechanics can be downloaded here.
Quantum Mechanics Survey (QMS)
The Quantum Mechanics Survey is a 31-item multiple-choice test used to explore the conceptual difficulties that undergradutate and graduate students have with quantum mechanics.
Quantum Mechanics Formalism and Postulates Survey (QMFPS)
The QMFPS is a 34 item multiple-choice test used to explore student difficulties with the formalism and postulates of quantum mechanics.
If you modify the concept tests, QuILTs or reflective homework while applying them in your classes, please send us a copy so we can update the contents accordingly. We greatly appreciate your help in improving the tutorials for quantum mechanics.
*QuILT is supported by the National Science Foundation.
**Some simulations used in QuILT are adapted from opensourcephysics.org and PhET.
We are grateful to Dr. Wolfgang and Dr. Belloni for helping us integrating the opensourcephysics simulations into QuILT.
We also thank PhET team for the helpful interactive simulations in quantum mechanics..