Abstract:
In the present work a teaching method is presented, concerning the way
that a sample of undergraduate students is instructed about two basic experiments in
the history of Physics: The Young’s double slit (interference) experiment and the
Davisson–Germer experiment, which essentially proved that particles (electrons) do
behave like waves (de Broglie hypothesis). The research question behind this research
project is whether it is possible to teach students about the very important aspects
of wave interference and wave properties of matter (Vokos et al., 2000), by
avoiding mathematical formalism and difficult Physics’ concepts as much as possible.
There have been similar efforts in the past, in the area of educational research
(Baily, Filkenstein, 2010; Krijtenburg-Lewerissa et al., 2017), but these efforts usually
refer to students with a good Physics and Mathematics’ background. The novelty
here is that future educators – with weaknesses in Physics and with not an interest
in Physics taken for granted – are addressed. Students watch both the experiments in
front of them; they have some level of interaction with what is happening and are interviewed,
in semi-structured research interviews about: (i) what they predict that
will happen, (ii) what they see happening and (iii) what they learned about it (metaknowledge).
The first experiment is executed both in its original form with water
waves with laser-light, but also in the alternative form with laser light. The second
experiment is executed through computer simulations (https://phet.colorado.edu and
others) (McKagan et al., 2008) and animations. Prior to the interviews with the N=6
students, N΄ = 2 were interviewed on a pilot basis, in order to improve the interviews.
Also, the N=6 students were given a pre-test and a post-test questionnaire, so
as to measure what they learned from this teaching and experimental sequence.The
results concerning the educational outcomes – given the limitations of the sample –
are encouraging.
Keywords:
Young experiment, Davisson–Germer experiment, Interference, History of Physics, Teaching, History of Physics.
