Since fall 2011 quantum mechanics (the one-semester upper division course for physics majors) at Creighton University has been taught solely using project-based pedagogy.  What does this mean?  Well, first of all, it means no lectures!  Think of this as an experiment in a completely student-centered active learning. 

What is project-based learning?  To put it simply, project-based learning or PBL is an active-engagement strategy characterized by

1. Learning begins with a project/problem
2. Problems are complex and based on real-world scenarios
3. Not all information is given; students need to make assumptions and estimates
4. Students learn to search for outside information
5. Students work in teams
6. Student learning is active and connected
7. Faculty role is that of guide and mentor

Although PBL originally began as a new model for instruction in medical schools [1], researchers at the University of Delaware like Barabara Dutch did groundbreaking work adapting its use to the introductory physics classroom [2-3].  An excellent online repository of PBL "problems" or projects in various disciplines can be found here. 

Project-based quantum mechanics carries this philosophy forward to an upper division course for physics majors.  Part of the impetus and motivation for utilizing this pedagogy is that PBL more closely mirrors the way science is actually done.  PBL pedagogy has been shown to help students develop both self-directed learning (SDL) and self-reflective learning (SRL) skills, which research has shown is critical.  Self-directed learning is defined as “student’s preparedness to engage in learning activities defined by the student, rather than by the teacher”; self-reflective learning is defined as "the extent to which learners are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active in their own learning process" [4]. 

 

Course Specifics

Click here to download the most recent syllabus for quantum mechanics.

Click here for a brief, one-page description of the PBL Quantum Mechanics course.

 

Students complete four projects during the course of the semester.  These projects both introduce and motivated the learning.  For example, one of the first projects in the course involves George Gamow's brilliant solution to the puzzle of alpha decay.  This motivates the need to learn how to solve the 1D Schrodinger Equation to both find bound states of wells and scattering solutions.  Each project culminates in a deliverable, which highlights one of the many ways scientists communicate and share the results of their work.

Table 1: Projects in the PBL Quantum Mechanics Course.  Clck on the project name for the complete project file.

Project	Description	Course Content	Deliverable
Carbocynanine Dyes	Students try to calculate the absorption spectrum of a linear dye useful in biophysics using a 1D infinite well model	Solutions to the 1D Schrodinger Equation, Potential Wells, Selection Rules, Spectroscopy	5 page journal-style article
Uranium Decay	Students use Gamow’s brilliant insight to solve the puzzle of the alpha decay of Uranium.	Solutions to the 1D Schrodinger Equation, 1D scattering, continuity equation	5 page journal-style article
Neutrino Oscillations	Students develop a 2-state model for neutrino oscillations.	Time evolution, 2 state systems, Dirac notation	10 page review article
Spin Oscillations	Students read I. Rabi's 1937 journal article "Syace Quantization in a Gyrating Magnetic Field"	Time Evolution, solutions to the Time Dependent Schrodinger Equation, Spin	Presentation at a mock journal club
HCL Molecule	Students work out the quantum mechanics behind FTIR spectroscopy of HCl.	3D Quantum Mechanics, Selection Rules, Spectroscopy, harmonic oscillator	Poster Presentation

 

For scaffoling, each week students complete a H.E.L.L. packet.  H.E.L.L. stands for homework, examples, lectures, and literature, and is a tongue in cheeck response to students' claims about the nature of the course.  In fact, each H.E.L.L. packet is coupled with a canto from Dante's Inferno, so that as students progress through the course they descend deeper and deeper into the literary Hell.  H.E.L.L. packets contain:

1. Homework problems - traditional homework problems are still due most weeks
2. Lectures - Typed lectures that have been used in previous incarnations of the course are provided to students
3. Examples - worked examples
4. Literature - Historical papers, articles from Physics Today (for example on the history of spin), interesting applications of the quantum that students are currently studying
5. Reading Assignemnts - Reading assignments from Griffiths or Townsend (both books are used at different times in the semester)
6. Reading Notes - Notes on the reading assignments pointing out crucial material and important steps and/or omissions of key detail in the textbook
7. Lecture Tutorials (more about this below)

 

Lecture Tutorials

Instead of lectures, students complete in-class lecture tutorials.  The essential idea is why have students sit there while the instructor goes through a derivation on the board when students can work-out the same derivation in groups with instructor support.  The lecture tutorials grew out of Todd Timberlake's Active Quantum Mechanics project, but have been extensively modified to include PER-content and to address common student misconceptions. These expanded tutorials are subject of joint collaboration and will continue to be improved in future.  These lecture tutorials come in three pieces:

1. Pre-class tutorial - this piece is completed before coming to class and may consist of reading, watching a short lecture online, or completing a short exercise
2. Tutorial - The tutorials are designed to take essentially one to one and a half class periods.  Learning objectives are clearly spelled out for students. 
3. Post-tutorial self-assessemnt - Students reflect on whether or not they feel that they have met the learning objectives of the tutorial.  They list areas of continuing confusion, and critique the tutorial.  Finally, they complete a short assessment question which is included to gauge their true mastery of the course content.

Here's a sample of a typical lecture tutorial.  E-mail the author if you'd like a copy of the complete package of lecture tutorials for the course (they will be posted here as well in the near future in LaTeX format).

 

A typical Day in PBL Quantum Mechanics

In the PBL quantum mechanics course we typically follow a 3-4 week cycle:

• Week 1: Project is announced.  Work on lecture tutorials and basic materials in class.  Homework is assigned.
• Week 2: Continue work on lecture tutorials.  Initial stages of project are due in class.  Homewor is collected and new work assigned.
• Week 3-4: Homework is collected.  In-class work is solely on the projects.  Deliverable is due about a week later.

Students have full control over the due-dates of the major deliverables in class, but once these decisions are made, students are held to them.

A typical day might look like:

• Questions.  Instructor might address commmon misconceptions or questions with mini-lectures or active exercises (clicker questions).
• Group Work: Students either work on in-class tutorials or projects.  Instructor floats around, answering questions.
• Groups Report-out: Groups formally check-in with the instructor, usually submitting preliminary work on a stage of a project. 

 

Reflection/Meta-Cognitive Self-Monitoring

Students in the PBL Quantum Mechanics course are encouraged to continually reflect and monitor their own learning. As cognitive science has demonstrated that reflection is important in learning (see, for example, the Kolb learning cycle here), the course seeks to help students become more reflective practioners of physics.  Students reflect in various ways:

1. Students establish their goals for themselves and for their learning at the beginning of the semester
2. Students reflect after each project
3. Students reflect on their contributions to their project teams and on the contributions of others through the CATME instrument, found here.
4. Students reflect on their mastery of learning objectives and content material at the end of each lecture tutorial.
5. Students reflect at the end of the semester how they've grown and changed, and whether or not they met their intial goals.

Students reflections are gather electronically using either the CATME website or our campus LMS, and are evaluated according to a reflection rubric shared with the students. 

 

Terms of Use/Copyright

All of the content on this page is available free of charge and is available for use in your own physics classroom.  Feel free to download content and explore what I've created.  However, if you use any of the materials please let me know.  I'd like feedback and would also like to keep track of where this PBL version of quantum mechanics is being used. 

All of the curricular materials listed on this page are copyrighted by Gintaras Duda (and Todd Timberlake for the original Active Quantum mechanics Lecture Tutorials) and are licensed under a under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may modify and redistribute these materials for non-commercial use as long as you clearly cite the original author(s) (Gintaras Duda for projects and other materials, and Gintaras Duda and Todd Timberlake for Lecture Tutorials) and release the materials under the same license.

 

Bibliography

[1] H. S. Barrows, Problem-Based Learning Applied to Medical Education, (SIU School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, 2000).

[2] B.Dutch, J. Coll. Sci. Teach. 26, 529-541 (1996).

[3] B. Duch, S. Groh, and D. Allen, The Power of Problem Based Learning, Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2001.

[4] M. English and A. Kitsantas, Int. J. of PBL 7 (2), 128-150 (2013).