Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation
Quantum mechanics is challenging even for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Dirac notation is a convenient notation used extensively in quantum mechanics. We have been investigating the difficulties that the advanced undergraduate and graduate students have with Dirac notation. We administered written free response and multiple-choice questions to students and also conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 23 students using a think-aloud protocol to obtain a better understanding of the rationale behind their responses. We find that many students struggle with Dirac notation and they are not consistent in using this notation across various questions in a given test. In particular, whether they answer questions involving Dirac notation correctly or not is context dependent.
Physics Education Research Conference 2013
Part of the PER Conference series Portland, OR: July 17-18, 2013 Pages 345-348
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![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=13149">Singh, Chandralekha, and Emily Marshman. "Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, July 17-18, 2013.</a>
![]() C. Singh and E. Marshman, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696).
![]() C. Singh and E. Marshman, Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696>.
![]() Singh, C., & Marshman, E. (2013, July 17-18). Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR. Retrieved February 9, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696
![]() Singh, Chandralekha, and Emily Marshman. "Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, July 17-18, 2013. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696 (accessed 9 February 2025).
![]() Singh, Chandralekha, and Emily Marshman. "Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation." Physics Education Research Conference 2013. Portland, OR: 2013. 345-348 of PER Conference. 9 Feb. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Chandralekha Singh and Emily Marshman",
Title = {Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2013},
Pages = {345-348},
Address = {Portland, OR},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {July 17-18},
Year = {2013}
}
![]() %A Chandralekha Singh %A Emily Marshman %T Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation %S PER Conference %D July 17-18 2013 %P 345-348 %C Portland, OR %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %O July 17-18 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Singh, Chandralekha %A Marshman, Emily %D July 17-18 2013 %T Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation %B Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %C Portland, OR %P 345-348 %S PER Conference %8 July 17-18 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13149&DocID=3696 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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