Related papers: Student Difficulties with the Dirac Delta Function
We show that the energy spectrum of the one-dimensional Dirac equation in the presence of a spatial confining point interaction exhibits a resonant behavior when one includes a weak electric field. After solving the Dirac equation in terms…
The use of Data Retrieval Tests (DRTs), as an alternative to physics laboratory notebook marking, is discussed. The implementation of a Moodle-based, on-line DRT for 1st year physics students is described. The advantages of using such a…
In the textbook proofs of Lorentz covariance of the Dirac equation, one treats the wave function as a spinor and gamma matrices as scalars, leading to a quite complicated formalism with several pedagogic drawbacks. As an alternative, I…
Educational research has shown that narratives are useful tools that can help young students make sense of scientific phenomena. Based on previous research, I argue that narratives can also become tools for high school students to make…
Symbolic equations are one of the many representations used in physics. Understanding these representations is important for students because they are how students access knowledge in physics. In this paper I build off of the work by Redish…
We show that additional solutions must be ignored (in differences of the Schrodinger and Klein-Gordon equations) in the Dirac equation, where usually passed the second order radial equation, called the reduced equation, instead of a system.…
We explore the difficulties that advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with non-relativistic quantum mechanics of a single particle in one spatial dimension. To investigate these difficulties we developed a conceptual survey and…
Computation is becoming an increasingly important part of physics education. However, there are currently few theories of learning that can be used to help explain and predict the unique challenges and affordances associated with…
By expanding the Dirac delta function in terms of the eigenfunctions of the corresponding Sturm-Liouville problem, we construct some new (oscillating) integral transforms. These transforms are then used to solve various finance, physics,…
This paper aims to accelerate video stream processing, such as object detection and semantic segmentation, by leveraging the temporal redundancies that exist between video frames. Instead of propagating and warping features using motion…
We investigated physics students' learning experience and behaviour in a second-year laboratory by analyzing transcribed audio recordings of laboratory sessions. One student group was given both a problem and procedure and asked to analyze…
Modern cars exist in an vast number of variants. Thus, variability has to be dealt with in all phases of the development process, in particular during model-based development of software-intensive functionality using Matlab/Simulink.…
Common research tasks ask students to identify a correct answer and justify their answer choice. We propose expanding the array of research tasks to access different knowledge that students might have. By asking students to discuss answers…
Several thoughts are presented on the long ongoing difficulties both students and academics face related to Calculus 101. Some of these thoughts may have a more general interest.
This paper outlines a deceptively complex problem in classical mechanics which the paper names the "Falling Astronaut Problem," and it explores a method for teachers to implement this problem in an undergraduate classroom. The paper…
Understanding electron correlation requires solving inseparable Schrodinger equation. In general, inseparable Schr\"odinger equations cannot be solved analytically. So their solutions are obtained numerically. In this paper we investigate…
Learning to use math in physics involves combining (blending) our everyday experiences and the conceptual ideas of physics with symbolic mathematical representations. Graphs are one of the best ways to learn to build the blend. They are a…
This article describes an undergraduate physics module at a university in England that places year 3 student physicists in secondary school classrooms for a semester. This is done as a way of introducing them to the occupation of secondary…
An important goal of graduate physics core courses is to help students develop expertise in problem solving and improve their reasoning and meta-cognitive skills. We explore the conceptual difficulties of physics graduate students by…
We demonstrate how students' use of modeling can be examined and assessed using student notebooks collected from an upper-division electronics lab course. The use of models is a ubiquitous practice in undergraduate physics education, but…