School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-30-2024
Abstract
It is beneficial for quantum mechanics students to have a unified understanding of eigentheory concepts, so they can recognize the shared structure of mathematized phenomena from the different quantum mechanical systems of spin, energy, or position and recognize those as instantiations of the same overarching concept. Quantum mechanics instructors should, therefore, provide opportunities for their class community to develop a shared unified understanding of eigentheory concepts. One such opportunity can arise by engaging students in analogizing eigentheory concepts in one context with those from another context. We investigate the pedagogical moves related to analogies that can be used by a quantum mechanics course instructor to support a class community in developing a shared unified understanding of eigenequations. We analyze classroom data to characterize an instructor’s pedagogical moves as he engaged students in analogical reasoning. Some moves include posing tasks conducive to analogizing; preparing, soliciting, and scaffolding students’ participation in analogical reasoning; using deictic gestures and inscriptions; juxtaposing symbols representing the analogized concepts; and explicitly highlighting the sameness of the analogized concepts. We exemplify these pedagogical moves with analytical descriptions of illustrative class episodes. We discuss how these pedagogical moves can support the class community’s expansion of their common ground by fostering the development of the class’s shared unified understanding of eigentheory concepts.
Recommended Citation
Serbin, Kaitlyn Stephens, and Megan Wawro. "Pedagogical moves related to analogy that support a unified understanding of eigentheory concepts in a quantum mechanics class." Physical Review Physics Education Research 20, no. 2 (2024): 020137. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.020137
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Physical Review Physics Education Research
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.20.020137
Comments
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.