2025/06/23 by Jana Legerská, Ellen Karoline Henriksen, Maria Vetleseter Bøe
Psychology · Social Sciences · Chemistry · #Educational Strategies and Epistemologies #Science Education and Pedagogy #Various Chemistry Research Topics
paper · doi:10.1088/1361-6552/ade259
Abstract Quantum physics (QP) is an important part of physics education, especially with the current developments in quantum technology. As upper-secondary curricula often allow teachers great freedom in deciding what to focus on, this study explores teachers’ choices of learning goals in QP in upper-secondary schools in Norway, and their underlying motivations. We collected data from teachers via an electronic questionnaire ( N = 30) and individual interviews ( N = 4). The analysis shows that teachers’ choices of learning goals in QP centred around three themes: Basic principles of QP, Phenomena and experiments, and Philosophical aspects, and the first two received significantly more attention. Teachers largely focused on traditional topics like wave-particle duality and key experiments, while under emphasising the probabilistic nature of measurement, superposition and entanglement, which are necessary for understanding quantum technologies. Teachers’ choices were largely influenced by the national exam and the perceived teachability of individual topics. To enhance quantum literacy, the study calls for innovative approaches to teaching QP emphasising its underlying principles over traditional paradigms.