Related papers: Student Resources in Quantum Mechanics, or Why Stu…
We report on a large-scale study of student learning of quantum tunneling in 4 traditional and 4 transformed modern physics courses. In the transformed courses, which were designed to address student difficulties found in previous research,…
This paper examines the initial beliefs held by elementary educators (n=11) and their students about teaching and learning quantum concepts at the elementary level. All teachers were participants in a grant-funded project focused on…
Can quantum mechanics help us in building intelligent robots and agents? One of the defining characteristics of intelligent behavior is the capacity to learn from experience. However, a major bottleneck for agents to learn in any real-life…
Quantum mechanics is an integral course for physics students. An understanding of quantum concepts is imperative for enrollment in physics graduate programs, participating in research within physics-fields, and employment at companies…
Several concrete examples in quantum information are discussed to demonstrate the importance of proper modeling that relates the mathematical description to real-world applications. In particular, it is shown that some commonly accepted…
Quantum computing is an emerging paradigm that opens a new era for exponential computational speedup. Still, quantum computers have yet to be ready for commercial use. However, it is essential to train and qualify today the workforce that…
This work examines student meaning-making in undergraduate physics problem-solving. We use a social semiotic perspective to sketch a theoretical framework. The social semiotic approach focuses on all types of meaning-making practices that…
We describe how one may go about performing quantum computation with arbitrary "quantum stuff", as long as it has some basic physical properties. Imagine a long strip of stuff, equipped with regularly spaced wires to provide input settings…
Computation, the use of a computer to solve, simulate, or visualize a physical problem, has revolutionized how physics research is done. Computation is used widely to model systems, to simulate experiments, and to analyze data. Yet, in most…
Computational models are an essential tool for the design, characterization, and discovery of novel materials. Hard computational tasks in materials science stretch the limits of existing high-performance supercomputing centers, consuming…
In this paper we investigate the extent to which students' problem-solving behaviors change as a result of working on multi-faceted, context-rich problems. During the semester, groups of two to three students work on several problems that…
Uncertainty is an important and fundamental concept in physics education. Students are often first exposed to uncertainty in introductory labs, expand their knowledge across lab courses, and then are introduced to quantum mechanical…
As the field of quantum information science and engineering (QISE) continues its rapid growth, there are increasing concerns about the workforce demands and the necessity of preparing students for quantum-related careers. Given the…
Quantum computers represent a radical technological advancement in the way information is processed by using the principles of quantum mechanics to solve very complex problems that exceed the capabilities of classical systems. However, in…
Popular media is an unspoken yet ever-present element of the physics landscape and a tool we can utilize in our teaching. It is also well-understood that students enter the physics classroom with a host of conceptions learned from the world…
The quantum mechanical commutation relations, which are directly related to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, have a crucial importance for understanding the quantum mechanics of students. During undergraduate level courses, the…
A common learning goal for modern physics instructors is for students to recognize a difference between the experimental uncertainty of classical physics and the fundamental uncertainty of quantum mechanics. Our studies suggest this…
Quantum mechanics is one of our most successful physical theories; its predictions agree with experimental observations to an extremely high accuracy. However, the bare formalism of quantum theory does not provide straightforward answers to…
To learn quantum mechanics, one must become adept in the use of various mathematical structures that make up the theory; one must also become familiar with some basic laboratory experiments that the theory is designed to explain. The…
Quantum resource theories (QRTs) offer a highly versatile and powerful framework for studying different phenomena in quantum physics. From quantum entanglement to quantum computation, resource theories can be used to quantify a desirable…