Investigating Student Difficulties with Dirac Notation
written by
Chandralekha Singh and Emily Marshman
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/quantum/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 December 14, 2024, 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 14 December 2024).
%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
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