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

物理学(13) 统计和热物理学的主题长期以来一直是本科课程中的问题。 对于许多学生来说，该主题是抽象的、理论性的，通常需要他们缺乏的数学工具。 该项目以俄勒冈州立大学物理范式项目和缅因大学物理教育研究项目开发的能量和熵 (E&E) 范式为基础，解决了教授高级热力学和统计力学的挑战。 E&E 采用了一种截然不同的统计力学方法，将量子力学和测量问题纳入其核心，并重点关注熵作为最小偏差原理。 在该方法中，热力学系统被视为大型（即宏观）量子系统，其与宇宙的其余部分没有完全隔离。 这种外部相互作用会产生巨大的后果，当考虑到这一点时，它澄清了热力学的实质，热变量现在被理解为宏观量子平均值，热概率被理解为宏观量子概率。 熵假设在这段婚姻中扮演了最终且关键的媒人角色。 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现场测试，详细的教师手册正在编写，并且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的有效性。

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.