Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform

Details Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform

2008-06-16

arxiv.org/abs/0806.2628v2

American Journal of Physics, v. 77, p. 308 (2009)

Physics

Physics Education

accepted to American Journal of Physics

Scientific paper

10.1119/1.3079689

We address four main areas in which graduate quantum mechanics education can be improved: course content, textbook, teaching methods, and assessment tools. We report on a three year longitudinal study at the Colorado School of Mines using innovations in all these areas. In particular, we have modified the content of the course to reflect progress in the field in the last 50 years, used textbooks that include such content, incorporated a variety of teaching techniques based on physics education research, and used a variety of assessment tools to study the effectiveness of these reforms. We present a new assessment tool, the Graduate Quantum Mechanics Conceptual Survey, and further testing of a previously developed assessment tool, the Quantum Mechanics Conceptual Survey. We find that graduate students respond well to research-based techniques that have been tested mainly in introductory courses, and that they learn much of the new content introduced in each version of the course. We also find that students' ability to answer conceptual questions about graduate quantum mechanics is highly correlated with their ability to solve calculational problems on the same topics. In contrast, we find that students' understanding of basic undergraduate quantum mechanics concepts at the modern physics level is not improved by instruction at the graduate level.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Graduate Quantum Mechanics Reform will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-92353