Abstract
Quantum physics is an essential field of science education research, which reflects the high relevance of research on quantum physics and its technologies all around the globe. In this paper, we report on a bibliometric analysis of the science education research community’s scientific output in the area of quantum physics in the period from 2000 to 2021. A total of 1520 articles published in peer-reviewed physics and science education journals were retrieved from Web of Science and Scopus databases to conduct bibliometric analysis. This study aims to provide an overview of quantum physics education research in terms of scientific production, preferred publication venues, most involved researchers and countries (including collaborations), and research topics. The main findings point to a continuous increase in research output in the field of quantum physics education over the last two decades. Furthermore, they indicate a shift regarding the research foci. While formerly mainly papers on the teaching of quantum physics content were published, recently, an increase in the relevancy of empirical studies on the teaching and learning of quantum physics can be observed.
Highlights
In the past, the first quantum revolution has influenced our society “with the development of integrated circuits and optoelectronic devices [. . . ] through high-performance computing, transoceanic communication, high-speed Internet and medical devices” [1]
We pose the following research questions: 1. How has the scientific output in terms of research publications and citations of articles on quantum physics education has developed over time from 2000 to 2021 in science education research?
While the analysis regarding research questions 1 to 3 provides a rather descriptive overview of the scientific output in the field of quantum physics education research in a first step, we use the results to derive options that could be worth taking into account for the development of quantum physics education research in the future
Summary
The first quantum revolution has influenced our society “with the development of integrated circuits and optoelectronic devices [. . . ] through high-performance computing, transoceanic communication, high-speed Internet and medical devices” [1]. The second quantum revolution is underway [2]: In the upcoming years, products and applications based on the exploitation of quantum principles such as superposition or entanglement will emerge in many different ways [3]. Referred to as Quantum technologies 2.0, such as quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing or quantum simulation, are said to have significant disruptive potential: “They hold the promise to affect dramatically our life overturning everything, from drug development, to cryptography, to data science and Artificial Intelligence” To create awareness among the public for the importance of modern quantum technologies for their own lives [9] today and in the future. A mystification of quantum physics [10], which is widespread in popular science literature, can be tackled in this way
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