In this paper, we describe research results of the performance of students in Thailand on a series of open-ended questions concerning some fundamental concepts in quantum physics. The questions were taken from the University of Maryland Tutorial (Redish, Steinber and Wieman 2006) and asked students to concentrate on the pattern appearing on the screen after electrons and light pass through a double slit. Some common conceptual difficulties were identified and analyzed. The findings from this study are being used to develop a conceptual survey in quantum physics.

This paper reports on a study of student understanding of the wave nature of matter in the context of the pattern produced by the diffraction and interference of particles. Students in first-year, second-year, and third-year physics courses were asked to predict and explain how a single change in an experimental setup would affect the pattern produced when electrons or other particles are incident on a single slit, double slit, or crystal lattice. The errors made by students after standard instruction indicated the presence of similar conceptual and reasoning difficulties at all levels.

The study reported in this paper is a survey (n = 236) that examines how upper secondary students (18–19 years old) in Norway come to terms with the wave-particle duality as presented as part of a short introduction to quantum physics. The main conclusion is that this concept is poorly understood. Some students demonstrate clear and explicitly formulated misconceptions rooted in a classical physics world-view. Scholars in physics have stated that the concept of duality is unnecessary, but still included in school and university physics.

The study reported in this talk is a survey (n=236) that examines how upper secondary students in Norway (18-19 years old) come to terms with the main idea of quantum physics as contrasted to classical mechanics. Two concepts were chosen as indicators, the concept of modelling the atom and the concept of wave-particle duality. The main conclusion is that most students seem to be locked into the classical worldview where material particles have definite locations and moves along definite tracks.

(entire thesis written in Norwegian)

Philosophical analysis indicates that underlying much of the Western scientific world view is the metaphysical presupposition of duality, the claim being made that the world is made sense of in terms of either/or and in terms of polarities (e.g., light versus dark). By way of contrast, no concept is more important in Asian philosophical and religious thought than that of nonduality. The basic ideas of quantum physics are not so much difficult as that they are strange. In some situations, electrons that are usually referred to as 'particles' may exhibit 'wave-like' behavior.

Students experience considerable conceptual difficulties in trying to incorporate the ideas of quantum physics into their overall cognitive framework. The preliminary findings of a study investigating students' understanding of quantum phenomena is presented.

Quantum theory is arguably the most successful physical theory that has ever been conceptualised, and yet Einstein once remarked that quantum theory reminded him om 'the system of delusions of an exceedignly intelligent paranoiac, conocted of incoherent elements of thought.' (In Arthur Fine, 1986)

This study addresses questions about particle physics that focus on the nature of electrons. Speculations as to whether they are more like particles or waves or like neither illustrate the difficulties with which students are confronted when trying to incorporate the concepts of quantum physics into their overall conceptual framework. Such questions illustrate the difficulties in using analogies taken from ordinary experience, described mostly by classical models, in explaining the subatomic world.