Purpose of this Portfolio
This portfolio is intended to explain my teaching philosophy and strategies of a physics course, Quantum Mechanics, with my reflection on my learning experience in SG8001 and work to illustrate my claims.
My Goals, Expertise and Accomplishments
Quantum Mechanics (QM) is the most difficult and the most important course in physics major, of which I always think how to teach in a way more acceptable and appreciable by students. My experiences of learning QM and of taking SG8001 conclude that student-centered and multiple Teaching and Learning Activities are highly desired in matching the learning outcome to the teaching objectives in teaching QM.
To design a proper Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), teachers must communicate with students to reach an agreement which maintains the sufficient levels of the course and has students to be willing to make effort to achieve the course goal. Usually students tend to complain the course content is too much and difficult. In this case, teachers should let them realize such content are required and important to a success in their future career, so the students are willing to accept the content and face the challenges. Then, the assessment and evaluation of the learning outcome comes next to let students aware how to successfully complete the course with high score. In these two steps the level of understanding plays a key role to clearly deliver the information. For example, the ILO of my presentation of the first QM course is:
n Students are able to explain the phenomena of the atomic world using probability wave.
n Students can deduce the physics mechanism of the probability property in the atomic world.
Further, as a teacher who sees the beauty and power of physics, I am being a model who has direct impact to the students about their feeling on physics according to the Social-cognitive theory. Thus, I must have a comprehensive mastery of the subject and develop the skill to deliver it in a simple, logical, coherent and smooth style. In this aspect, I emphasize two points:
1. The logic in the course content. I shall arrange the lecture content as to solve the physic problems emerging in history to deepen the students’ awareness of their origin, necessity and significance. Taking my presentation in the first QM course for instance, the logic is:
n Why are the phenomena in the atomic world so different that the Newton mechanics fails? Because the atomic world is controlled by probabilities.
n Why is the atomic world controlled by probabilities? Because atoms have wave behavior.
n Why do atoms have wave behavior? Because atoms’ positions and velocity are inaccurate.
n Why atoms’ positions and velocity are inaccurate? Because the atoms are so small in mass and size that even observation by throwing photons on them can change their original status, which is the Uncertainty Principle.
2. The connection between the new concepts and what the students already know. As final sentence in the example above, I connect the quantum mechanical concept of inaccuracy of atoms’ positions and velocity to the collision between photons and atoms to be observed, the latter of which is well known in the Newton mechanics by students. Instead of posing new concepts abruptly, I try to make a natural extension from the known to the unknown to facilitate the learning and understanding, maintain the logic and smoothness of the content, and to show the power of the theory.
Finally, I relate the QM to the philosophy, which is the very charm of the theory as it have touched the explanation of the universe. For example, at the end of the class I will place famous stories or arguable paradox of QM about its explanation of the world, e.g. the Schrodinger’s Cat, followed by extended questions for students’ reflection after class, such as: as we are convinced that the world is probabilistic and observation can change the original status, what on earth can be held tight by us, are the experiment results trustable, and are we generating the history? Such stories and questions will inevitably raise students’ interests on the subject, and they will be absorbed in it and try to find the answers themselves.
Reflection and Future Direction
Difficulties of learning the mathematics and grasping the concepts in QM are unavoidable in mastering the subject, because they are learning the most fundamental laws of the nature that is highly abstract and inclusive. I should convey to the students that learning physics is actually a mental discipline that not only gains the knowledge of physics but develops their logical and analytical capability to be for example a framework that can embrace any subject in science. On the other hand, step-by-step stages of learning strategies at the beginning of the course should be illustrated to have students aware that the objectives are achievable as long as each of your paces is steady.
Future direction will be lie in 2 aspects:
1. The mathematics required for the course. A proper insert of mathematic appendix should be placed where they are needed in the physics content instead of making them chapters which will eliminate the students’ patience.
2. The improvement of diverse teaching activities. As modern physics courses like QM are hard to have interaction in class, I will try to have video clips in the class. Other examples, like one MIT professor demonstrates experiments in classroom using his own body in classical mechanics course, but such life example cannot apply to atomic physics. University of Science and Technology of China to hold a competition of self-developed experiments by students as an exam of electromagnetisms course is an good example as well.