The practical teaching of quantum mechanics

Abstract

The author teaches introductory quantum mechanics to third-year students at the University of Pretoria. Quantum mechanics is without a doubt one of the most challenging topics in the physics curriculum. It has been described as "All is waves, with nothing waving, over no distance at all!" The mathematics of quantum mechanics is demanding, and the interpretation and conceptual understanding of the subject continue to occupy the minds of even some of our greatest thinkers today, more than a hundred years after its foundations were laid. Consequently, at the University of Pretoria, student performance has been notoriously low, students became discouraged, and absenteeism, plagiarism and copying plagued its delivery. The author intervened this year (2018) with a radically different approach to address these challenges. The outcomes have been significant, and the reviews (received from about 50% of the students) indicate that this new approach has worked beyond expectations. In this paper, the many different challenges faced and interventions made will be outlined.