How high schools teach quantum physics – a cross-national analysis of curricula in secondary education

H K E Stadermann,M J Goedhart,E Van Den Berg

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1929/1/012045

Abstract

Quantum physics (QP) changed our worldview, it brought us modern electronic devices, and its almost mythical image fascinates. Although QP is relatively new in secondary education, it is now part of the national curricula of many countries. To understand the current state of QP content in high schools, we scrutinised upper secondary school physics curriculum documents in 15 countries. In these countries, we identified a similar core curriculum of QP which contains the following seven main categories: discrete atomic energy levels, interactions between light and matter, wave-particle duality, de Broglie wavelength, technical applications, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, and the probabilistic nature of QP. We also found differences in the focus of the listed topics of individual countries, which indicate different views on teaching QP. The thematic focus of QP items is related to the underlying goal of science education and to the way students’ knowledge is tested. This overview shows which QP content is generally feasible at a secondary level and which pedagogical perspectives are possible. Therefore this study might lead to reflections on existing QP curricula, and inspire countries that do not have QP in their curriculum yet.

Highlights

Quantum physics (QP) is a compulsory topic in the pre-university curriculum of many countries
Literature reports that teaching QP in secondary schools is challenging: Students have limited mathematical backgrounds, QP phenomena do not align with students' classical physical knowledge, and teachers might not sufficiently master the subject for teaching [2]
As our search for QP curricula was guided by published physics education research in English, the research is limited to these 15 countries

Summary

Introduction

QP is a compulsory topic in the pre-university curriculum of many countries. There are several reasons to introduce 16-18-year olds to this part of modern physics: it should give them a recent image of physics, and QP is fundamental to devices students know from their daily lives, like semiconductors (mobile phones), lasers or solar panels. Addressing different interpretations of QP offers opportunities to teach about the Nature of Science (NOS) [7--9]. The following NOS aspects appear to be relevant in QP teaching: methodologies, scientific models, tentativeness, creativity and controversies in science, often presented in a historical context. While a few countries have a tradition of 50 years of QP teaching, some introduced it only recently into the upper secondary physics curriculum. Curriculum makers consider the possibility to introduce conceptual QP at the pre-university level.

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Results

Conclusion