A New Model Course in Quantum Mechanics for Scientists and Engineers

理解量子力学（QM）对工程师，化学家和生物学家以及所有学科的物理学家越来越重要。这种理解特别重要的领域包括介观系统，光子学，分子遗传学和医学诊断。然而，质量管理是一个困难和抽象的主题，并已在教学中取得了很大的成功，在各级。 针对这种情况，我们正在对学生对QM的理解进行系统的调查，并根据这项研究开发课程教材。 虽然大多数研究都是在为科学家和工程师开设的课程中进行的，旨在遵循基于caluclus的物理学入门，但我们也与堪萨斯州立大学（Zollman）和波士顿大学（Garik）的项目进行了互动。 这些合作使我们能够调查的基本量子概念的理解，学生在大学课程的QM非科学家和高中。 我们的教学策略的关键是： 1.将采用物理教育研究、课程开发和教学的迭代过程。这种课程改革模式越来越受到重视。然而，它还没有被应用到质量管理和学生的理解没有进行详细的调查。 研究正在进行到QM的学生的理解和学生的先决条件的主题，如机械波和物理光学的理解。 2.将开发使学生能够在小组中建设性地工作的材料。物理教育中的许多研究都指出，学生需要在一个能够理解重要基本原理的环境中相互合作，而不是被动地倾听。 在将这种教学模式推广到质量管理方面还需要做大量的工作。我们希望继续我们在开发此类材料方面已经取得的成功。 3.教学策略将采用先进的教育技术。现代技术极大地增加了我们在物理教育方面的资源。模拟允许学生“观察”现象，并以其他不可能的方式探索不同参数的影响。 计算机辅助数据采集为学生提供直接的动觉学习体验。廉价的简单量子器件，如太阳能电池和LED，是现成的。虽然我们不会自己开发任何软件，但我们正在开发使用堪萨斯州立大学和波士顿大学开发的软件的课程，并将测试其对提高学生对该主题的理解的有效性。 该项目的产品将包括对学生学习QM困难的见解和一系列关于基本概念的12节课（教程）。 我们还将开发QM类的评估工具（面试协议，开放式问题和多项选择概念清单），并评估相关的教育软件。 一旦通过研究审查，我们的课程和评估工具将在万维网上分发。 我们预计，无论是研究和课程开发的影响将是实质性的，从介绍到先进的水平，为物理学家，工程师和其他科学家。我们还怀疑，以学生为中心的工作性质将有助于达到比那些传统上在这些领域取得成功的更多样化的人口。

Understanding quantum mechanics (QM) is of growing importance to engineers, chemists, and biologists, as well as to physicists of all disciplines. Fields where this understanding is of particular importance include mesoscopic systems, photonics, molecular genetics, and medical diagnostics. However, QM is a difficult and abstract subject and there has been little success in teaching it at all levels. In response to this situation, we are conducting systematic investigations into student understanding of QM and develop instructional materials based on this research for courses. While most research is being conducted in a course for scientists and engineers meant to follow introductory caluclus-based physics, we are also interacting with projects at Kansas State (Zollman) and Boston University (Garik). These collaborations allow us to investigate the understanding of fundamental quantum concepts by students in college courses on QM for non-scientists and in high school. The keys to our instructional strategies are: 1. The iterative process of physics education research, curriculum development, and instruction will be employed. This model of curriculum reform is becoming increasingly valued. However, it has not been applied to QM and no detailed investigations of student understanding of the subject have been conducted. Research is being conducted into student understanding of QM and into student understanding of prerequisite topics such as mechanical waves and physical optics. 2. Materials that enable students to work constructively in small groups will be developed. Numerous studies in physics education have pointed to the need for students to work with one another in a context where they can construct an understanding of important fundamental principles instead of listening passively. Much work is needed in extending this mode of instruction to QM. We hope to continue with successes we have already had developing such materials. 3. Instructional strategies will employ advances in educational technology. Modern technology has dramatically increased the resources we have in physics education. Simulations allow students to "observe" phenomena and probe the effect of different parameters in ways not otherwise possible. Computer assisted data acquisition provides students with direct kinesthetic learning experiences. Inexpensive simple quantum devices such as solar cells and LED's are readily available. Although we will not develop any software ourselves, we are developing lessons for using the software developed at Kansas State and Boston University and will test its effectiveness for improving student understanding of the subject. The products of this project will include insights into student difficulties learning QM and a series of 12 lessons (tutorials) on fundamental concepts. We will also develop assessment tools for QM classes (interview protocols, open-ended questions, and a multiple-choice concept inventory) and evaluate relevant educational software. Once they are vetted by research, our lessons and assessment tools will be distributed on the World Wide Web. We expect that the impact of both the research and the curriculum development will be substantial from the introductory to the advanced level, for physicists, engineers, and other scientists. We also suspect that the student-centered nature of the work will aid in reaching a more diverse population than those that traditionally succeed in these fields.