Collaborative Research: Paradigms in Physics: Creating and Testing Materials to Facilitate Dissemination of the Energy and Entropy Module

统计和热物理的主题在本科课程中一直存在问题。对许多学生来说，这门学科是抽象的、理论性的，往往需要他们缺乏的数学工具。该项目通过俄勒冈州立大学的物理项目范式和缅因大学的物理教育研究项目开发的能量和熵(E)范式，解决了高年级热力学和统计力学教学的挑战。E&amp；E对统计力学采取了一种完全不同的方法，将量子力学和测量问题纳入其核心，并将熵作为最小偏差原则。在这种方法中，热力学系统被视为大型的，即宏观的，量子系统，它不能完全与宇宙的其余部分隔离。这种外部相互作用具有巨大的影响，当考虑到澄清热力学的实质时，热变量现在被理解为宏观量子平均，热概率被理解为宏观量子概率。于是，熵假设在这场婚姻中扮演了媒人的最终和关键角色。作为当前项目的一部分，E& E课程材料正在进一步完善，这些材料正在俄勒冈州立大学以及伊萨卡学院和太平洋大学的合作地点进行实地测试，正在编写详细的教师手册，并正在进行一个教育研究项目，以检查方法和材料在支持学生在高级课程中学习这些概念方面的功效。

Physics(13) Topics in statistical and thermal physics have long been problematic in the undergraduate curriculum. To many students, the subject matter is abstract and theoretical and often requires mathematical tools they lack. This project addresses the challenge of teaching upper-division thermal and statistical mechanics by building on the Energy and Entropy (E&E) paradigm developed through the Paradigms in Physics Project at Oregon State University and a physics education research project at the University of Maine. E&E takes a radically different approach to statistical mechanics, incorporating the issues of quantum mechanics and measurement at its core and focusing on entropy as the Principle of Least Bias. In the approach, thermodynamic systems are treated as large, i.e. macroscopic, quantum systems that are not perfectly isolated from the remainder of the universe. This external interaction has enormous consequences that when taken into account clarifies thermodynamics' substance, with thermal variables now understood as macroscopic quantum averages and thermal probabilities as macroscopic quantum probabilities. An entropy postulate then plays the ultimate and crucial role of match maker in this marriage. As part of the current project, E&E curricular materials are being further refined and the materials are being field tested at Oregon State University and at collaborator sites at Ithaca College and Pacific University, a detailed instructor's manual is being prepared, and an education research project is being conducted to examine the efficacy of the approach and materials in supporting student learning of these concepts in advanced courses.