Research-based quantum instruction: Paradigms and Tutorials

Abstract

A growing body of research-based instructional materials for quantum mechanics has been developed in recent years. Despite a common grounding in the research literature on student ideas about quantum mechanics, there are some major differences between the various sets of instructional materials. In this article, we examine the major instructional considerations that influenced the development of two comprehensive quantum mechanics curricula: Paradigms in Physics (the junior-level physics courses at Oregon State University) and Tutorials in Physics: Quantum Mechanics (a set of supplementary worksheets designed at the University of Washington). The instructional considerations that we consider vary in nature: some are philosophical or theoretical commitments about teaching and learning, while some are practical structures determined in part by the local instructional environments. We then use these instructional considerations as a lens to explore example activities from each curriculum and to highlight prominent differences between them, along with some underlying reasons for those differences. The Paradigms reflect a case where the theoretical commitments drove changes to the practical structures while the Tutorials reflect how theoretical commitments were incorporated into a course with a relatively fixed practical structure. Partially as a result of this large-scale difference, we find that each curriculum prioritizes different theoretical commitments about how to promote student understanding of quantum mechanics. We discuss instances of both alignment and tension between the theoretical commitments of the two curricula and their impact on the instructional materials.