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Abstract We investigated the difficulties that physics students in upper-level undergraduate quantum mechanics and graduate students after quantum and statistical mechanics core courses have with the Fermi energy, the Fermi–Dirac distribution and total electronic energy of a free electron gas after they had learned relevant concepts in their respective courses. These difficulties were probed by administering written conceptual and quantitative questions to undergraduate students and asking some undergraduate and graduate students to answer those questions while thinking aloud in one-on-one individual interviews. We find that advanced students had many common difficulties with these concepts after traditional lecture-based instruction. Engaging with a sequence of clicker questions improved student performance, but there remains room for improvement in their understanding of these challenging concepts.
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Tutorials in climate modeling
This article describes a learner-centered, tutorial-based approach to climate modeling. Using these tutorials, students in a general education course in global climate change taught in the physics department engaged with compelling, “real-world” questions by drawing on foundational physics concepts along with their prior experiences and conceptual resources in the process of knowledge construction. Students used simulations, energy tracking diagrams, and algebraic analysis to construct climate models that address challenging quantitative questions and reveal key concepts in climate science. Special emphasis was given to the learning goals, pre-requisite knowledge, and conceptual challenges associated with these activities. Instructional materials are provided for educators who wish to adapt these tutorials for use in their own educational context. The supplementary materials are appropriate for both non-science majors and upper-level physics majors.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1936601
- PAR ID:
- 10584268
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Journal of Physics
- Volume:
- 91
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 0002-9505
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 690-695
- Size(s):
- p. 690-695
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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