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.

(entire thesis written in Norwegian)

We present a new research-based course on quantum mechanics in which the conceptual issues of quantum mechanics are taught at an introductory level. In the context of virtual laboratories, the students discover from the very beginning how quantum phenomena deviate from our classical everyday experience. The results of the evaluation of the course show that most of the students acquired appropriate quantum mechanical conceptions, and that many of the common misconceptions encountered in traditional instruction have been avoided.

Ninety years after the genesis of quantum physics significant research on students' understanding of such revolutionary phenomena is beginning to emerge. What are photons really like? Are they like particles or waves? Are they like both particles and waves, or like neither?

(This paper is a PowerPoint presentation.)

There has so far been very little work on student understanding of the broad underpinnings of quantum mechanics. We report here on our preliminary work examining students’ knowledge of quantum phenomena before college instruction. We have interviewed many students and used their responses to questions to try to categorize their knowledge and to see how it differs from expert perceptions. Students entering the university exhibit quite limited knowledge of quantum phenomena. We believe that some student ideas are robust and that many ideas are constructed in response to questioning.

The interaction of light and matter is not well understood by introductory students, but underpins the understanding of quantum phenomena characterizing the twentieth century revolution in understanding of Nature. We study student ideas in order to categorize their ideas and find ways to help them incorporate correct understanding.

Results from an investigation of student understanding of physical optics indicate that university students who have studied this topic at the introductory level and beyond often cannot account for the pattern produced on a screen when light is incident on a single or double slit. Many do not know whether to apply geometrical or physical optics to a given situation and may inappropriately combine elements of both.